Presidential Transition

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Presidential Transition Edition About the IBM Center for The Business of Government For additional information, contact: The IBM Center for The Business of Government connects public Jonathan D. Breul management research with practice. Since 1998, we have helped Executive Director public sector executives improve the effectiveness of government IBM Center for The Business of Government with practical ideas and original thinking. We sponsor independent 1301 K Street, NW research by top minds in academe and the nonprofit sector, and Fourth Floor, West Tower

we create opportunities for dialogue on a broad range of public Washington, DC 20005 T management topics. t n e m n r e v o G f o s s e n i s u B e h

The Center is one of the ways that IBM seeks to advance (202) 515-4504 knowledge on how to improve public sector effectiveness. fax: (202) 515-4375 The Business of Government The IBM Center focuses on the future of the operation and e-mail: [email protected] management of the public sector. website: www.businessofgovernment.org 3 From the Editor’s Keyboard Presidential Transition About IBM Global Business Services 4 Conversations with Leaders With consultants and professional staff in more than 160 countries A Conversation with J. Christopher Mihm globally, IBM Global Business Services is the world’s largest consulting A Conversation with Paul R. Brubaker services organization. IBM Global Business Services provides clients with business process and industry expertise, a deep understanding 16 Profiles in Leadership of technology solutions that address specific industry issues, and the Dr. Richard Beck * Spine is 1/4 in. Adjust ability to design, build and run those solutions in a way that delivers Robert J. Carey Rex W. Cowdry, M.D. width appropriately to bottom-line business value. For more information visit www.ibm.com. page count. Robert Doyle Dr. Richard Beck Robert J. Carey Rex W. Cowdry, M.D. Mitchell L. Glassman U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Department of the Navy Maryland Health Care Commission Robert Howard Jonathan Q. Pettus Lt. Gen. James G. Roudebush, M.D. J. D. Sicilia 43 Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington Forum Introduction Getting It Done Eight Essential Tools for Achieving Your 1301 K Street, NW Goals Fourth Floor, West Tower Robert Doyle Mitchell L. Glassman Robert Howard Washington, DC 20005 61 Viewpoints Hubris or Wise Policy? Early Planning U.S. Geological Survey Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for a Presidential Transition An Apollo Project for Climate Change/ Energy? History’s Lessons for Future Success What Do (and What Should) Federal Listen to Officials Do During a Presidential The Business of Transition? Presidential Government Hour 74 Management weekly conversations The National Security Council: with government leaders Recommendations for the New Every Saturday at 9:00 am President Jonathan Q. Pettus Lt. Gen. James G. Roudebush, M.D. J. D. Sicilia on WJFK (106.7 FM) Biometrics: Enhancing Security in Organizations National Aeronautics and Space Administration United States Air Force U.S. Department of Defense Mondays at 11:00 am and Wednesdays at noon on Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government What the Federal Government Can Do

Federal News Radio, T ransition to Encourage Green Production WFED (1500 AM) Success Factors for Implementing Shared Services in Government 96 research Abstracts 100 From the Executive Director

1890-1 IBMC Business of Government FALL 2008 Cover OUTSIDE; 6/C: CMYK [PMS 2718 Blue (CMYK build); PMS 1797 (CMYK build); PMS 877 Metallic Silver = 6/c; with full aqueous varnish; SEAL IS 2/c, 877 SILVER AND 2718 BLUE (build) 1890-1 IBMC Business of Government FALL 2008 Cover INSIDE; 4/C: CMYK Table of Contents

From the Editor’s Keyboard Presidential Transition By Albert Morales ...... 3 Conversations with Leaders A Conversation with J. Christopher Mihm, Managing Director, Strategic Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office...... 4 A Conversation with Paul R. Brubaker, Administrator, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation...... 10 Profiles in Leadership By Michael J. Keegan, Lauren Kronthal, and Ruth Gordon Dr. Richard Beck, Director, Planning and Performance Management, U.S. Department of the Interior...... 16 Robert J. Carey, Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of the Navy...... 19 Rex W. Cowdry, M.D., Executive Director, Maryland Health Care Commission...... 22 Robert Doyle, Deputy Director, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior...... 25 Mitchell L. Glassman, Director, Division of Resolutions and Receiverships, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation...... 28 Robert Howard, Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs...... 31 Jonathan Q. Pettus, Chief Information Officer, National Aeronautics and Space Administration...... 34 Lt. Gen. James G. Roudebush, M.D., Surgeon General, United States Air Force...... 37 J. D. Sicilia, Director, Lean Six Sigma Program Office, U.S. Department of Defense...... 40 Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington Forum Introduction: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington By Jonathan D. Breul ...... 43 Getting It Done: Advice for Government Executives By Mark A. Abramson, Jonathan D. Breul, John M. Kamensky, and G. Martin Wagner...... 45 Eight Essential Tools for Achieving Your Goals: Insights for the New Administration By Mark A. Abramson, Jonathan D. Breul, John M. Kamensky, and G. Martin Wagner ...... 53 Viewpoints Hubris or Wise Policy? Early Planning for a Presidential Transition By Martha Joynt Kumar...... 61 An Apollo Project for Climate Change/Energy? History’s Lessons for Future Success By W. Henry Lambright...... 66

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 1 [ table of contents ] continued

What Do (and What Should) Federal Officials Do During a Presidential Transition? By Bruce W. McConnell...... 70 The Business of Government

A Publication of the IBM Center for The Business of Government Management The National Security Council: Recommendations for Albert Morales the New President By D. Robert Worley...... 74 Managing Partner Biometrics: Enhancing Security in Organizations Jonathan D. Breul By Babita Gupta...... 78 Executive Director Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government By Ai-Mei Chang and P. K. Kannan...... 82 John Kamensky What the Federal Government Can Do to Encourage Senior Fellow Green Production By Nicole Darnall...... 86 G. Martin Wagner Success Factors for Implementing Shared Services in Government Senior Fellow By Timothy J. Burns and Kathryn G. Yeaton...... 90 Michael J. Keegan Research Abstracts Managing Editor New from the Center: Recently Published Reports...... 96 The Business of Government magazine and Producer, The Business of Government Hour Collaboration: Networks and Partnerships Series Integrating Service Delivery Across Levels of Government: Lauren Kronthal Case Studies of Canada and Other Countries...... 96 Marketing Director Contracting Series Success Factors for Implementing Shared Services in Government...... 96 Ruth Gordon Business and Web Manager E-Government/Technology Series Best Practices for Implementing Agile Methods: A Guide for Consueline Yaba Department of Defense Software Developers...... 96 Administrative Assistant Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government...... 97 Biometrics: Enhancing Security in Organizations...... 97 IBM Center for The Business of Government 1301 K Street, NW, Fourth Floor, West Tower Managing for Performance and Results Series Washington, DC 20005 Five Actions to Enhance State Legislative Use of Performance Information...... 97 For subscription information, call (202) 515-4504. World Wide Organizational Transformation Series Web page: www.businessofgovernment.org. Copyright 2008 Four Strategies to Transform State Governance...... 98 IBM Global Business Services. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, by microfilm, Presidential Transition Series xerography, or otherwise, without the written permission The National Security Council: Recommendations for of the copyright owner. This publication is designed to the New President...... 98 provide accurate information about its subject matter, but is distributed with the understanding that the articles do not What the Federal Government Can Do to Encourage constitute legal, accounting, or other professional advice. Green Production...... 98 From the Executive Director Looking Back, Looking Forward By Jonathan D. Breul...... 100

How to Order Recent Publications...... 104

2 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results From the Editor’s Keyboard

By Albert Morales

Presidential Transition

The president-elect and his team face a wide range of challenges—economic, political, and social. They will need to be able to lead an effective government that can address these challenges. The IBM Center for The Business of Government is committed to helping identify and bring best practices from research to practice.

During 2008–2009, the IBM Center is devoting special attention to the needs of the incoming administration:

Albert Morales is General Manager, Federal Civilian • We are sponsoring a series of reports that touches on management issues facing the Industry Leader, IBM Global next administration, including reports looking at government reorganization, reflections Business Services, and on 21st century government management, the management of regulation development, Managing Partner, IBM strengthening homeland security, and reforming the National Security Council. Center for The Business of Government. His e-mail: • We launched a blog on management challenges facing the next president and will [email protected]. continue it in the coming year. • We have written a series of “Issue Briefs” addressing a range of mission and program issues that will face the next administration. • We have published two books with Rowman & Littlefield Publishers: The Operator’s Manual for the New Administration and Getting It Done: A Guide for Government Executives. The Operator’s Manual focuses on the “machinery” of government (dealing with budgets, personnel, contracting, technology, and so on). Getting It Done addresses how to effectively work and manage in a political environment but, most important, how to successfully work with stakeholders such as the White House, Congress, inspectors general, the media, and others. • Our radio program, The Business of Government Hour, will continue to provide insight- ful interviews with government executives preparing for the upcoming transition. We will also provide solid advice for incoming government executives on how to navigate the federal government as well as insights for government executives for getting things done. • We also have been sponsoring forums on management challenges (such as acquisition and contracting) that are likely to face the next administration.

Exciting change is happening throughout government, and we will continue to document and share what we learn so you can be inspired by, and gain from, the experience of others.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 3 Conversations with Leaders

A Conversation with J. Christopher Mihm Managing Director, Strategic Issues U.S. Government Accountability Office

J. Christopher Mihm is the managing director for strategic issues at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). In this role, he is responsible for GAO’s crosscutting work, such as long-term fiscal challenges, management reform, performance management, federal workforce challenges, and the pending presidential transition.

On Long-Term Fiscal Challenges The question of the long-term fiscal challenges that we face is really one of the most pressing issues that the Congress faces as it makes decisions. It is one of the most pressing issues that we face in our capacity as citizens when we think about elected leadership. Photo: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta. Since the early 1990s, GAO has been running simulations that have been looking at a variety of long-term projections Christopher Mihm testifies before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, of our country’s fiscal condition. The bottom line of this is during a hearing on Capitol Hill. that you can play with various assumptions about tax cuts or no tax cuts, or Alternative Minimum Tax or no Alternative Minimum Tax, et cetera. The bottom line, though, is that despite what you do with those assumptions, because of ris- On Process Reforms ing health care costs and demographics—that is driven by One process reform, for example, would be that we need the retirement of the baby-boom generation—we are on an a set of key national indicators of how well we are doing unsustainable fiscal path. As a result, there are a number of as a nation. We’re one of the few developed countries that very difficult decisions that we as taxpayers need to make in doesn’t have a set of key outcome indicators so that we can the coming years. The sooner we get started on this, the bet- understand the nation’s position and progress across a wide ter. But these decisions are associated with answering ques- range of social, demographic, and other key policy areas. tions such as: What do we want government to do? What size do we want government to be? How do we want, and We believe that those would help decision makers know who do we want, to do the government’s business? And, how we are doing—how we are doing now in an absolute how do we want government to be financed? sense, how we are trending, and how we are doing relative to other countries. This would help inform policy decisions, We issued a report back in January of this year authored by inform strategic planning, and inform budget and appropria- [former] Comptroller General [David] Walker, who headed tions decisions. GAO. The report is called: “A Call for Stewardship.” And what it offered was a series of process reforms—not the Another key long-term process reform that we have long hard policy reforms that need to take place, but a series favored, or long suggested to Congress, is that they consider of process reforms that Congress and the executive branch the formation of various commissions to help deal with some could do to start teeing up the information needed. This of these intractable issues. There are a variety of proposals should start facilitating the types of hard decisions that need that have been kicking around on the Hill and that former to be made. Comptroller General Walker, when he was around, talked

4 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Conversations with Leaders

A Call for Stewardship

In the December 2007 GAO report A Call for Stewardship, David M. Walker, who was then comptroller general, writes:

“Our current long-range fiscal path is clearly imprudent and fiscally unsustainable. It is also alarming given the range of current and emerging problems that require attention: health care, energy dependency, environmental protection, and homeland security, to name a few. These long-term challenges have profound implications for U N I T E D S T A T E S G O V E R N M E N T A C C O U N T A B I L I T Y O F F I C E our future economic growth, standard of living, and national security. Unless these A C F S : ALL OR TEWARDSHIP issues are effectively addressed, they will surely begin to manage us. What is needed Enhancing the Federal Government’s Ability to Address Key Fiscal and Other 21st Century Challenges is a more strategic, long-term, comprehensive, and integrated approach to help capi- talize on related opportunities and manage related risks within current and expected resource levels.”

GAO-08-93SP Source: www.gao.gov/new.items/d0893sp.pdf.

an awful lot about. How you structure those is obviously a chiefs in the executive suite? What should be elevated? What call for the Congress, but it would be something that would can be integrated and then what can be institutionalized? provide the Congress a vehicle for beginning to grapple with What can help us make sure that we maintain momentum on some of these hard decisions. That’s just two of them. changes and put in place action plans that can transcend the tenure of any individual political appointee? On Creating Chief Management Officers Another near-term process reform is the creation of a posi- One of the solutions is this notion of a chief operating offi- tion in major agencies called a “chief operating officer,” cer. This would be a very senior position within an agency, or “chief management officer.” The chief operating/chief probably on a term appointment, probably with a good per- management officer concept is new to the United States, formance contract. If she or he met the objectives and the but it’s certainly not new to the rest of the world. In fact, in management objectives in their performance contract, there most of the market-driven democracies, the notion of a chief should be sizable rewards for that; and if they don’t meet operating officer for executive agencies is the predominant those objectives, they should be expected to achieve excel- form of service delivery in many of those countries. So it is lence elsewhere. a tried and tested approach that’s been used overseas. Vice President Gore, as part of the National Performance Review, And so the idea here is to create mechanisms that can ele- imported a version of that here in the notion of performance- vate, integrate, and institutionalize the attention to important based organizations. management and transformational challenges. What is most important is that we have some mechanism in place in agen- The basic idea here is that there are a series of manage- cies to really identify plans for long-term transformation and ment issues that are longer term, more intractable, and more to sustain those plans across the political leadership. transformational in nature. It is unrealistic to expect political appointees—who come to Washington with an often 12-to- On Pay-for-Performance Systems 24-month tenure with a policy orientation rather than a man- Another process reform is creating pay-for-performance agement orientation—to devote the time, the energy, and the systems. The single most important thing that we have scarce political capital in addressing these issues. found when we look at pay-for-performance efforts, both in other agencies as well as our own experience internally And so what we have looked for is what are the elements in GAO, is that you just can’t overlay a pay-for-performance to elevating attention to these transformational management scheme on an agency’s existing performance management issues: How can we integrate the various functional manage- system of performance appraisal processes and expect to ment stovepipes of the chief financial officer, the chief human have success in this. capital officer, the chief acquisition officer, and all the various

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 5 Conversations with Leaders

In very many cases, agencies don’t have in place a sound the way to do it is to try to do it on the cheap. And, in fact, it performance management system, and by that I mean one takes quite a bit of investment up front in new performance that is linked to organizational results and that creates a line management systems and technology. But it also takes of sight for individuals between what they are doing and out- investment in training. This needs to be continuing training comes. If they don’t have in place a performance manage- not just in the rudiments or the tools and techniques of how ment system that’s been validated and has credibility with to do performance appraisals under the new system, but on staff and supervisors and managers, and then if you try and basic management—on how do you have conversations with overlay a pay scheme on that and it fails, then people will adults about expectations, and how do you have conversa- say, “Ah, it shows that pay for performance doesn’t work.” tions on feedback, and how do you link daily operations to external results. And so the first thing that agencies need to do is to make sure that they have a good performance management system All of these elements, however, are part of a larger package in place. of things that need to take place if you are going to be successful in a pay-for-performance scheme. The second thing, then, they need to do is make sure that they don’t implement pay for performance as just a “one-off” I think one of the most important things that pay for perfor- management improvement. Rather, it needs to be a part of a mance does in an organization if successfully implemented larger package of reforms an agency puts in place, designed as part of this larger array of reforms is, first, it gives you to improve the performance and change the culture of the an opportunity to reward your top performers, to recognize organization to be more results-oriented. them. It’s a powerful retention device, and I think what’s also very important is that, especially with the younger genera- The third thing that agencies need to make sure that they do tion that’s now coming into the public service, they have an is that they need to make sure that they fund the program expectation that their pay will be linked to their performance adequately. I testified on the Hill not too long ago in which I and to their contributions. was mentioning that if you want to kill pay for performance,

The State of the USA

The State of the USA, Inc. (SUSA) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, public-private partnership that seeks to illuminate our nation’s progress with key quantitative metrics on the economy, the environment, and society. SUSA is developing a state-of-the-art website that incorpo- rates high-quality information and data from a broad range of public and private sources. It will include local, state, and federal agencies; the business community; and nongovernmental organizations. Its single overarching purpose: to provide nonpartisan, nonideological, and accurate information for a range of audiences— from nonprofits, government policy makers, and commercial organizations to city planners, educators, engaged citizens, and the media—to help Americans assess our nation’s position and progress in addressing important problems.

6 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results “We’re one of the few developed countries that doesn’t have a set of key outcome indicators so that we

can understand the nation’s position and progress across a wide range of social, demographic, and other

key policy areas. We believe that those would help decision makers know how we are doing….”

—J. Christopher Mihm, Managing Director, Strategic Issues, U.S. Government Accountability Office

And so a pay-for-performance system sends the right set Our particular role in this has been established in the of signals to people that you are trying to recruit and Presidential Transition Act, and that is to be available and retain, and that signal is that we value and reward high to provide briefings to transition teams. We also understand performance. that we have a broader responsibility to help the Congress prepare for its oversight and decision making that it will On the Role of GAO During a Presidential need in conjunction with the new administration. Transition This, as you know, is going to be a very important political Specifically what that means is that we are now going transition. I mean, they are all important, obviously, but this through and pulling together our wide body of work—we one is going to be the first presidential transition that we issue over a thousand reports a year in GAO. And no transi- have had obviously in a post-9/11 environment since the tion need fear; we are not going to be delivering a thousand creation of the Department of Homeland Security. It’s the reports to them. But we are going through the wide body first presidential transition in over 40 years where the nation of work that we have issued and identifying what are those has been at war. key programmatic and management issues on an agency-by- agency basis that we need to be able to get to the transition So there is a whole series of extra sensitivities in making team in the new administration when they come on. What sure that we have successful handoffs of power. You know, are the key open recommendations that we have that need we need to keep in mind that the terrorist attacks in Madrid, additional action? What are the key vulnerabilities, based on the Glasgow bombings, were all done during times of presi- our work, that they may face when they take office on day dential transitions. The terrorists understand that those are one? And we are making sure that we package that in a way typically times of vulnerabilities for democracies. that’s digestible and usable to a transition team, which, as everyone that has been through those tells us, is just going to be inundated with information. Much of this information will be provided in a web-based environment to them.

On the Multi-Sector Workforce To address the human capital challenges facing the federal government, we first have to understand that the federal contribution in the delivery of public programs, in terms of the number of federal employees involved, may actually be a small or even the smallest part of what’s involved in the delivery of any particular service. Therefore, the first thing that needs to take place is that we need to make sure that agencies think of their human capital in the context of a multi-sector workforce.

Photo: AP Photo/Ron Edmonds. So the first thing that we need to make sure of is that we President Bush takes the oath of office from Chief Justice William maintain a sense of transparency over all the various partner- Rehnquist to become the 43rd President of the United States, ships and contractors, and state and local authorities, and January 20, 2001. non-government organizations, and for-profit and not-for-profit partners that are involved in the delivery of public services.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 7 Conversations with Leaders

Serving the Congress and the Nation: GAO’s Strategic Plan Framework

In this 2007 report, the Government Accountability Office “describes the forces that are likely to shape our nation’s future, its place in the world, and the changing role of the federal government…. [It identifies] seven key themes that provide the context for [GAO’s] plan. These themes are:

1. Ensuring the nation’s readiness to face changing security threats 2. Addressing a range of sustainability challenges from fiscal challenges to environmental challenges 3. Maintaining economic growth and competitiveness 4. Recognizing global interdependencies related to people, information, goods, and capital 5. Adapting to societal changes resulting from demographic and other shifts 6. Maintaining U.S. citizens’ quality of life 7. Managing advancements in science and technology

If our nation is to be prepared for the challenges and changes that are coming, government transformation is essential…. Such a transformation requires leadership by elected and public officials that is dedicated, courageous, creative, committed, constructive, cooperative, and stewardship oriented.” Source: www.gao.gov/new.items/d07467sp.pdf.

The second thing, in terms of the size and competencies for you, who you can’t tell what you want to do, but need in the hiring process, is that for federal employees, it to negotiate and urge and work with them to get something puts an increasing premium on skills in collaboration, in done. So skills in collaboration are needed. communication, in negotiation, and in working across various sectors. The old hierarchical models of being able to tell On Collaboration someone below you that you want something done and then You know, what has been fascinating to me is to see the shift having faith that that will be done are really breaking down. in the unit of analysis in much of the public management You know, the skill to success now, with leadership now is literature over the last 15 to 20 years, away from a focus on being able to get work done through others who don’t work government and much more to a focus on governance. There

8 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Conversations with Leaders

is a greater recognition that meaningful public outcomes, vir- the President’s Management Agenda. For the human tually any outcome, isn’t accomplished or done or caused by capital component of these standards, OPM [Office of any one organization. Personnel Management] invited us over and said we had just done a guide that was basically a maturity model It’s certainly not one federal agency working alone, but rather it’s for strategic human capital management. OPM invited done through patterns of relationships of several federal agen- us, along with OMB, and said, “You know, GAO, you cies, very often with state and local governments, contractors, are thinking a lot on this. You are issuing not so much and the not-for-profit sector. It is how these all work together. standards, but guidance to agencies. Let’s see if there are Networks are another part of that—it’s how these all work opportunities to work together and see if they could be together and how you improve the working of those together. informed on this.” And that was a great partnership that we thought paid dividends in terms of the agencies. They Much of the literature is suggesting it’s really the key to just got one consolidated set of advice or guidance from improving government performance in the 21st century. the administration, advice from us that they could act on, I was reading something not too long ago that was saying, on strategic human capital issues. it was really quite pointed on that, they were saying, indeed, if you are interested in improving government in the 21st century, you are going to be probably less interested in trying To Learn More to eke out one or two percent improvements in productivity Ten Challenges Facing of any one organization and more interested in managing Public Managers relationships across organizations. by the IBM Center for The Business of And that’s certainly the governance conundrum, as it were. Government The key to success, then, on these types of issues is collaboration, and we look at that both in an external sense of how the federal government can better collaborate, but that’s also something that we take very much to heart when we think The report can be obtained: • In .pdf (Acrobat) format at the Center website at internally in GAO. www.businessofgovernment.org/pdfs/10_Challenges.pdf. • By e-mailing the Center at A concrete example of the value of collaboration is when [email protected] the president in the early days of this administration directed • By calling the Center at (202) 515-4504 OMB [Office of Management and Budget] to put together • By faxing the Center at (202) 515-4375

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 9 ConversationsConversations withwith LeadersLeaders

A Conversation with Paul R. Brubaker Administrator, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation

The constant and efficient movement of people and goods across the U.S. and around the globe is critical to the economy and our lives. Today, our vital transportation infrastructure is showing signs of aging, and we are experiencing unprecedented congestion in our nation’s highways and rail- ways, at our airports, and at our seaports. Overcoming these challenges will increasingly rest on the development and deployment of new technologies and cutting-edge solutions.

We spoke with Paul Brubaker, administrator at the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) within the U.S. Department of Transportation, about his department’s efforts in forging a transportation system for the 21st century.

On the Mission of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration

[Most of the agencies within the Department of Photo: www.rita.dot.gov. Transportation are modal agencies. That is, they cover a mode of transportation, be it aviation, highway, railroad.] Interestingly enough, we were created to really be a cross- was to actually read the Mineta Act and understand it, and modal organization: to look for innovative technologies then make sure that we were aligned as an organization to which could be applied across the transportation modes— achieve those objectives. So that was job one. an exciting mission. We are tasked with coordinating the department’s $1.2 billion research investment portfolio My role as RITA administrator is to make sure that there is a under the Norman Mineta Research and Special Programs process in place to manage that portfolio, to make sure that Improvement Act. RITA’s a relatively new organization. we are acting as the portal for new technologies into the So, what was real important when I walked through the door [Department of Transportation], and that we actually take

U.S. Department of Transportation RITA Research and Innovative Technology Administration Mission Coordination, facilitation, and review of the Department’s research and development programs and activities Advancement, research, and development of innovative technologies, including intelligent transportation systems Comprehensive transportation statistics research, analysis, and reporting Education and training of transportation professionals Engineering and technical deployment activities of the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center

10 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Conversations with Leaders

a very crossmodal, multi-modal view of the transportation infrastructure—[whether] moving passenger or freight.

On Critical Transportation Challenges Facing the United States It’s a very aged infrastructure. If you talk to our transportation secretary [Mary Peters], she always talks about safety, system performance, and 21st century solutions. And those 21st century solutions are really all about improving the former two. They’re all about improving the safety posture, reducing the number of crashes. And as a byproduct of reducing the number of crashes, we can also reduce congestion and actually benefit the environment by reducing greenhouse gases as we keep cars moving. She also zeroes in on system performance, and that is really related to how we move people and how we move goods across this country.

Again, it’s not just about automobile traffic. It’s all about congestion on our waterways and in our ports. And these are Photo: AP Photo/The Minnesota Daily, Stacy Bengs. really major, major issues. One of RITA’s missions is really Vehicles are scattered along the broken remains of the Interstate to get our arms around, from a measurable perspective, the 35W bridge, which stretches between Minneapolis and St. Paul, whole issue of safety as well as transportation system perfor- after it collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening rush hour August 1, 2007. mance. Introducing 21st century concepts, be it technology or economic innovations—[such as] congestion pricing, like we’re doing through the Urban Partnership Agreements—it’s We laid out a half-a-dozen goals, very specific goals, around really going to enable us to use the existing infrastructure things like reducing congestion and focusing on safety, as much more efficiently and much more effectively. well as some environmental goals, improving environmental stewardship. But we did it in an intermodal way. We actu- From a research perspective, managing our research port- ally focused on four main themes. One was passenger move- folio, we’re looking at better ways to make informed deci- ment. Another one was movement of freight. Then, we had sions about resource allocation—replacing roads, replacing innovative financing and public-private partnerships. The bridges—as opposed to sort of the traditional model, the last one, which was really technology, was how to introduce Highway Trust Fund, that’s, incidentally, funded by gas technology and innovation across the prior three areas and taxes. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that through better really take the transportation paradigm to the next level in fuel economy standards, through transitions to alternative a set time frame—the year 2030—because it seemed like a fuels, especially if they’re hydrogen, and as we introduce pretty reasonable time horizon. We can actually begin plan- plug-in hybrid technology and electric cars to the mix, that ning today, planning our research investment today, that old model is not going to stand up to the future. We have will support the vision that we outlined for 2030, and that’s to come up with some alternatives to the traditional gas tax. just really an exciting opportunity to really link research, our I think some of the technologies that we’re working on and research investment, with a strategic objective. some of the innovation and innovative approaches that we’re following are really going to enable a different transportation On Intelligent Transportation Systems funding paradigm, a different transportation operation para- It’s real simple: We want to build vehicles that don’t crash, digm in the future—that’s what’s really exciting about this job. and provide drivers with mobility solutions and assistance, presented in a user-friendly manner that doesn’t distract the On DOT’s Transportation Vision for 2030 driver, which offers him value added. Imagine getting in the We came up with Transportation Vision for 2030 because car, turn[ing] the ignition, and then having the car basically we wanted to specifically link the department’s research tell you: It doesn’t really make any sense for you to drive on and development investments towards intermodal goals. the Clara Barton Parkway today; there’s been an accident. We wanted to take a step back and figure out, okay, what Your best bet is to drive to a Metro station and get into work is it that we should be building towards—we came up with that way. And, by the way, we can prepay your parking and Transportation Vision for 2030.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 11 Conversations with Leaders

these crashes. There’s a huge economic cost that is attributed to these 6 million crashes, not to mention the fact that non- recurring congestion is often the result of a fender-bender somewhere, an automobile accident or a vehicle crash. The important thing: Leveraging intelligent transportation solutions on the safety side really improves mobility.

SafeTrip-21 is really an exciting operational test that is going to deploy November of this year at the ITS [Intelligent Transport Systems] World Congress in New York City. It’s actually an operational test of existing intelligent transportation systems technologies. What we’ve actually done is we’ve gone out and we’ve asked the private sector, aca- demia, think tanks, practitioners, state and local governments to bring us ideas, best practices, and technologies that they’re currently using. What we’re attempting to do is integrate these existing technologies and show that we can measurably improve safety and transportation system Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration. performance, or mobility, through the integration of existing Paul Brubaker, RITA Administrator, at a meeting with senior DOT staff. technologies. SafeTrip-21 is really designed to do that: to demonstrate that through better use of information, naviga- tions, communications, technologies, and protocols, that we buy a farecard. That’s the kind of stuff that we’re looking at can really make a measurable impact. from a mobility perspective. If we could reduce those crashes, we could also reduce the From a safety perspective, we actually have technology today number of injuries, and certainly the 42,000 people who that would prevent cars from crashing into each other. The lose their lives on the nation’s highways every year. There’s trick: Fine-tune it, install it, deploy it, bring the cost down, a very clear and compelling business case around intelligent and actually work with the automobile manufacturers and the transportation systems. after-market manufacturers to begin deploying these types of solutions. We have 6 million vehicle crashes every year in On the National Congestion Relief Initiative the United States. Look at the AAA study just released; I think Congestion is one of the single largest threats to our nation’s they said $167 billion a year is the related economic cost of economic prosperity. It takes people away from their families, but it also has a huge economic cost. It drives up the cost associated with operating our supply chain, and it is just eating away at national productivity. This congestion initiative is premised on the fact that there are existing innovations and strategies that can really provide relief now. We want to leverage some experiences—overseas, for example, the London Congestion Initiative, which has been very successful in reducing congestion—and take those best practices and adopt them in the United States.

What we wanted to do was essentially identify a number of leading communities which would really compete for the opportunity to have demonstrations funded in their area. What we’re interested in is everything that ranges from better signage to traffic incident management to traveler information to better signal control. We’re just really excited about The National Congestion Relief Initiative promotes the use of some of the initiatives that we’ve undertaken under the con- demonstrated, innovative strategies to relieve traffic gridlock. gestion initiative, and we’re already beginning to see some benefits to the dialogue.

12 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results “We’re very bullish on both biofuels and hydrogen, as well as battery technology, which is being

developed to really improve the operation of vehicles, reduce our dependence on foreign oil—which is,

frankly, job one—and then also it’s going to improve the environment. It’s sort of a triple whammy,

if you will.”

— Paul Brubaker, U.S. Department of Transportation

On the Volpe National Transportation Systems itself to [the capital planning and investment control (CPIC) Center process]. Rather than reinvent the wheel, we were able to The Volpe Center could best be described as a transporta- leverage best practices that had been developed over the tion think tank. It’s an internationally recognized center of last decade or so [employing] the CPIC concept, includ- transportation and logistics expertise. And they do a variety ing leveraging the GAO’s [Government Accountability of projects for the Department of Transportation and other Office’s] Information Technology Information Management government agencies, private sector organizations, and even Guide, which lays out a really robust maturity model for some international governments and organizations. [It does selecting, controlling, and evaluating information tech- not receive] direct appropriations. [It is] a fee-for-service nology capital projects. And we just applied that same organization, so 100 percent of its operating budget comes maturity model to what I’m calling RPIC, or the research from sponsored work. It’s really entrepreneurial. It could best planning and investment control process. It’s based on best be described as sort of a government professional services practices. It’s a very mature model. And in some ways, I firm focused on research. It’s located in Cambridge. find it a little easier to apply to research than I do information technology investments, because the business cases We’re interested in making sure that Volpe has the best are slightly different. and the brightest folks—well-trained people, well-trained research professionals in the area of transportation, logistics, I still would like most of the research or virtually all of the supply chain, safety, mobility. [They] are taking the opera- research to really be outcome-based, which is consistent tional test lead on the SafeTrip-21 project. with what CPIC really tries to drive home. We looked at this model and thought we can really tee this up and man- On Capital Planning and Investment Control age through our governance process. We’ve [set up] a gov- This is really exciting. I looked at how we were managing erning body called the RD&T [Research, Development, and the research portfolio at the department, and it really lent Technology] Planning Council, [or] the RD&T Investment

Hydrogen-Powered Technology

Paul Brubaker (left) meets with automotive and air quality experts at the California Fuel Cell Partnership to view the latest in applied fuel cell technology and to talk about building a national hydrogen- fueling network.

The California Fuel Cell Partnership, located in West Sacramento, California, is a collaboration of 32 government and private sector organizations that believe fuel cell vehicles powered by hydrogen have the potential to change the future of transportation. Photo: Sacramento Bee/ZUMA Press

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 13 Conversations with Leaders

Research Planning and Coordination FAA SLSDC The RD&T Planning Council ensures crossmodal collaboration and coordination of research, development, and technology at the highest FHWA MARAD levels within DOT and with external entities. The Council RD&T is chaired by the administrator of RITA and includes Planning the heads of the operating Council administrations and other FTA RITA senior DOT leaders. The RD&T Planning Team assists the Council in its work; it is RD&T chaired by RITA’s associate Planning administrator and includes the associate administrators Team for RD&T in the operating NHTSA PHMSA administrations.

FMCSA FRA

FAA = Federal Aviation Administration FRA = Federal Railroad Administration SLSDC = Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation FMCSA = Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration MARAD = Maritime Administration NHTSA = National Highway Traffic Safety Administration RITA = Research and Innovative Technology Administration FTA = Federal Transit Administration PHMSA = Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration FHWA = Federal Highway Administration

Source: Peterson, Eric C. Transportation Research & Technology Collaboration within USDOT and with External Partners, U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration. Presented at the TRB annual meeting, Jan. 26, 2006.

Board. The governance body, which is made up of the example, has 100 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that they’re modal administrators, will have a say in making sure that putting out on the market in Southern California. The rea- the research investments across the department and even son why they’re focused on Southern California is because within their modes are consistent with the strategic objec- that’s where the fueling infrastructure is. GM, likewise, has a tives that we seek to achieve as a department. It’s criteria- program where they’ve got 100 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles based and objective. out on the road being tested in Washington, New York, and Southern California—again, because that’s where the fueling On Advancing Alternative Fuels infrastructure is. [In 2003] the president during his State of the Union address announced a Hydrogen Fuel Initiative—we really needed We’re very bullish on both biofuels and hydrogen, as well to be researching some alternatives. Now, a lot of this tech- as battery technology, which is being developed to really nology has advanced to the point where the vehicles are improve the operation of vehicles, reduce our dependence going through a low rate of initial production. Honda, for on foreign oil—which is, frankly, job one—and then also it’s going to improve the environment. It’s sort of a triple

14 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Conversations with Leaders

whammy, if you will. It’s really exciting to see the develop- framework to effectively collaborate and share knowledge ments in hybrid, electric, gasoline-powered plug-in hybrids, among the researchers. and plug-in hybrids that use biofuels and gasoline but can also use hydrogen. On His Leadership and Management Approach Drawing from both the public sector background and the GM at the Consumer Electronics Show back in January private sector background, we had to get really clear about rolled out something called the Cadillac Provok, which is what the vision of the organization was. How are you going a concept vehicle, but it’s something that’s built on a plat- to align to achieve your objectives? How do you align your form, a very flexible platform, that they can build hybrids people? How do you align your budgets? And how do you on. And it’s a plug-in hybrid hydrogen fuel cell vehicle that make sure that you put the organization on a path that you has photovoltaic cells on the roof. Now, these are planned can actually achieve and produce some sort of measurable to be on the market in the 2014–2015 time frame. But you results for the taxpayers? got to understand that there’s a lot of research that’s done in support of that. I recognized out of the gate, particularly from the private sector, that you’ve got to have a really clear focus. You’ve And, frankly, hydrogen is ready for prime time. The fueling got to be aligned to achieve your organizational objectives. infrastructure needs to be built. We’re right now doing some You’ve got to have a strategic plan, be clear about your mis- research and promoting some innovative thinking around sion. And that plan, by the way, drives your process, all your how can we actually jump-start the deployment of the supporting processes, how you align your people and your infrastructure in a meaningful way so that we can compress resources, how you measure effectiveness, and how you the timeline that the vehicle manufacturers currently have reward behavior. to make these vehicles available. I think we’re going to be pretty successful in doing that. To Learn More On the Importance of Partnerships and Collaboration One of the key elements of our strategic plan going for- What the Federal Government Can Do ward is improved collaboration. We’re aligning to ensure to Encourage Green that we’re focused on collaboration capability—[with] the Production portfolio management process, the nine communities of by Nicole Darnall interest, and the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. We’re reorganizing the Volpe Center into eight Centers of Innovation. The whole reason for this is so that we can begin to share knowledge across organizations, be it universities, be it the private sector that we’ve engaged The report can be obtained: in conducting research, or whether it’s the Volpe National • In .pdf (Acrobat) format Transportation Systems Center around these communi- at the Center website, ties of interest, so that we’re doing a much better job of www.businessofgovernment.org • By e-mailing the Center at collaborating, of sharing knowledge, of increasing the [email protected] level of research, which the department funds through • By calling the Center at (202) 515-4504 collaboration and knowledge sharing. The whole notion • By faxing the Center at (202) 515-4375 behind these nine communities of interest is to create a

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 15 Profiles in Leadership

Dr. Richard Beck Director, Planning and Performance Management U.S. Department of the Interior By Michael J. Keegan

Measuring Performance to Inform Management Decisions at Interior

Good government must achieve results. This underscores Career Highlights the critical importance of performance and accountability in government management, which is based on the belief • Environmental Satellites Program Manager, NASA that government should be accountable to its citizens. With • Director, Office of Earth Science Business the passage of the Government Performance and Results Act Division, NASA (GPRA) of 1993, the U.S. Congress placed greater emphasis • Director, Resources Management Division, NASA on outcomes and results by directing all federal agencies to engage in strategic planning, setting goals, and measuring performance. Through systematic performance planning, land, or protecting the wildlife?” says Beck. He continues: measurement, and reporting, GPRA sought to strengthen “One of the challenges is still to get folks to focus on: What’s federal decision making and accountability. “Its emphasis is the outcome? What’s the result? Trying to define results for a not just on having a plan and doing the performance assess- government agency [is] very challenging.” Management excel- ment against that plan, but looking at outcomes—outcomes lence is an enabling goal to ensure that “we’re [meeting] our in terms of results,” declares Dr. Richard Beck, director, programmatic results—to have effective business processes Office of Planning and Performance Management at the and practices across the board,” explains Beck. This goal U.S. Department of the Interior. Beck leads an office within provides the enabling framework for accomplishing Interior’s the Department of the Interior that provides leadership, mission. There’s a focus on the efficient use and careful man- guidance, and consulting services to the department and its agement of tightening resources. Beck admits that only by bureaus on strategic planning, performance management, effectively measuring results can the department adjust its tac- and organizational effectiveness. tics and strategies to meet its goal of management excellence.

He does this for a department that is the nation’s principal Over the last seven years, the President’s Management conservation agency, with a direct appropriation budget of Agenda (PMA) has been the strategy for improving manage- around $16 billion, over 70,000 employees, and responsibility ment within federal agencies, with its clear focus on perfor- for managing one out of five acres in the United States. “The mance and results. The Office of Management and Budget department,” Beck describes, “is kind of the capstone amongst (OMB) evaluated agencies for improvement in such areas as nine bureaus, ranging from the Fish and Wildlife Service to human capital, financial performance, competitive sourcing the National Park Service to the Bureau of Land Management (or commercial services management), e-government, perfor- to the Bureau of Reclamation.” Interior’s responsibilities are mance improvement, and real property. OMB has used an expanding as the nation looks to its public lands for energy, Executive Branch Management Scorecard to monitor agen- water, wildlife protection, recreation, and enhanced security. cies’ status and progress on the PMA. “The scorecard,” says Beck, “has really helped [to] crystallize what we’re trying Such an expansive mission requires a strategic plan that to do. It gives you a road map as far as what you want to links the department’s mission to each activity and program. achieve—a framework of what you need to improve.” According to Beck, Interior’s strategic plan has four main mission areas: resource protection, resource use, recreation, and Along with the scorecard, the department and its bureaus serving communities. “We start to work through end-outcome have performed program evaluations to assess performance. goals: What does it mean for resource protection, protecting The information derived from these evaluations is used in

16 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results “[Performance management is] not so much about targets

being met or not met, but understanding why and what to

do about it.” “We have programs that now can track what they are doing and a way

to describe it: where they’re going, what they’ve done, what they’re

trying to achieve. I think that makes them more accountable.”

planning and performance management activities. OMB’s government information, the Bush administration issued Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) was developed to Presidential Executive Order 13450, entitled “Improving assess and improve a program’s impact on outcomes that Government Program Performance.” “This is codifying the matter to the public. “What’s been beneficial about PART importance of looking at performance, evaluating perfor- [was it revealed] that there were some programs that didn’t mance, demonstrating performance, and using it as part of have performance measures at the program level,” says Beck. your planning process,” says Beck. The order also creates “PART identified those programs.” It permits one “to step back a point person within agencies responsible for program per- from your day-by-day and make sure you have some idea of formance. “You want somebody in the organization to basi- where you’ve been, how well you’re doing, and where you’re cally spearhead what’s going on across the agency, as large going—PART helped put that in place.” Of the 70 Interior pro- as it is, and make sure efforts are coming together—that’s grams that have undergone PART evaluation, only 15 received the performance improvement officer (PIO),” notes Beck. a “results not demonstrated” rating. The remaining programs The PIO looks at how planning and performance are being have received a rating of some level of effectiveness. “There used across a department. Currently, Beck acts as deputy used to be a much higher percentage when we first started— PIO for Interior. The order also formalizes the Performance [we’ve] progressed over these years,” notes Beck. Improvement Council, which is a government-wide council focusing on performance management within government. According to Beck, this focus on performance has led to more accountability and enhanced program outcomes and According to Beck, “performance management is very intro- results. “We have programs that now can track what they are spective: You can see how well you’re doing and how you doing and a way to describe it: where they’re going, what are achieving. You can also use it to inform the public and they’ve done, what they’re trying to achieve. I think that Congress. It’s not so much about targets being met or not makes them more accountable.” met, but understanding why and what to do about it.” It requires being more strategic about the data, how it is con- Interior has also tried to better link cost with performance. It structed and brought to decision makers so it’s useful. He has implemented activity-based costing in an attempt to track, points out that “this is a different way of thinking and looking manage, and link costs to performance. “The extent that we at performance. We have to help folks understand it’s not can relate performance and costs, I think [we] become more necessarily a bad thing if your results aren’t what you want informative and [we] start to help decision making.” To illus- them to be—use that in a constructive way.” trate, Interior manages the Chickasaw National Park, where it houses endangered species that have specific dietary needs— To learn more about the Department of the Interior’s Office of Planning mice. As a result, the department began raising feeder mice. and Performance Management, go to www.doi.gov/ppp/. When the managers received better cost information about spending, the department challenged them to think about their To hear The Business of Government Hour’s interview mission: what was their business and how were they spend- with Dr. Richard Beck, go to the Center’s website at ing funds. They realized they were spending too much to raise www.businessofgovernment.org. mice to feed these endangered animals. Feeder mice could be bought cheaper from pet stores. They stopped raising mice, To download the show as a podcast on your computer or MP3 player, reduced costs, and redirected that savings to improve the from the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org, right quality and quantity of the wilderness trails. click on an audio segment, select Save Target As, and save the file.

To institutionalize progress around performance manage- To read the full transcript of The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Dr. Richard Beck, visit the Center’s website at ment and to foster continued transparency and access to www.businessofgovernment.org.

18 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Profiles in Leadership

Robert J. Carey Chief Information Officer U.S. Department of the Navy By Michael J. Keegan

Delivering Secure, Integrated Information in Real Time to Sailors and Marines

“I was in the desert in Fallujah [when] I was selected to Career Highlights be the CIO [of the U.S. Department of the Navy],” recalls Robert Carey. “I actually met the secretary of the Navy while • Deputy Chief Information Officer for Policy and [he] was there at Thanksgiving time and shook his hand Integration, U.S. Department of the Navy and thanked him for picking me.” Serving in Iraq has given • Commander, U.S. Navy Reserve, Civil Engineer Corps Carey a firsthand view of the critical importance information technology (IT) plays in supporting U.S. warfighters. As • eBusiness Team Leader, Office of Chief Information a consumer of IT “at the tip of the spear,” Carey knows what Officer, U.S. Department of the Navy tools are being used by the sailors and marines his office supports, recognizing that IT is at the heart of every warfight- ing decision. “I was in Fallujah living with the uniformed trustworthy.” Advances in web-based technologies and the Marine Corps for seven months; I learned how they operate Internet in the form of Web 2.0 have made access to infor- in the field in combat conditions. When you bring all that mation in real time to near real time possible. These capa- back, you have an appreciation [of what is needed and what bilities foster collaboration, facilitate decision making, and it takes]” to be successful. With his unique understanding, enhance situational awareness. Carey leads his staff in pursuit of their core mission: to deliver secure, interoperable, and integrated information manage- At the same time, Carey points out, the Internet was set ment and information technology capabilities to warfighters. up to be inherently open, not inherently secure. As such, He does this with an IT budget of about $7.1 billion, sup- the department is balancing access to information with porting over 800,000 civilian and service personnel. appropriate security. It has enhanced its IT security through the use of public key-enabled websites, role-based access, Information management and the technology that enables it and the Common Access Card with public key infrastruc- weave together to form a value chain that has at its end the ture certificates. Other multi-level security technologies conveyance of knowledge and data, with the ultimate pur- are also being deployed, allowing for further control of pose of providing the warfighter the ability to make informed information while ensuring access for authorized staff. The decisions in theater. Yet, in today’s network-connected and department has also extended public key infrastructure to web-enabled world, this value chain encounters many chal- its mobile device. lenges to its integrity and risks being frayed. “We have invested a fair amount of resources in raising the “Today,” explains Carey, “the number one challenge for security bar of the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) and all of us is security, hands down. The world has changed the other networks,” declares Carey. “We have come to the dramatically in the last four or five years, so balancing realization that security is not something we debate—it is the ability to get access to information while maintaining part of the basic system. We’re investing in the right sets of a proper security paradigm is a huge challenge for us…. tools and activities that, again, balance access and security, Whether you’re on the ground in Fallujah or aboard a ship or allow us to have both.” Yet, the threats to information helping the folks in Burma,” says Carey, “you [need to be security and availability increase daily. able] to access information, and it [needs] to be secure and

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 19 “Whether you’re on the ground in Fallujah or aboard a ship

helping the folks in Burma, you [need to be able] to access

information, and it [needs] to be secure and trustworthy.” “We think connecting and creating a seamless network environment, eliminating legacy networks

and rolling them up, [and] creating this process that allows us to manage information across a

homogeneous environment will better serve the warfighters.”

Several types of media—hardware, paper, and electronic— “We think,” Carey explains, “connecting and creating a are vulnerable to security breaches and loss of both classi- seamless network environment, eliminating legacy networks fied and personally identifiable information (PII). “We have and rolling them up, [and] creating this process that allows a lot of issues with the prolific amount of information, so us to manage information across a homogeneous environ- we’re trying to wrap all these information flows into a con- ment will better serve the warfighters.” NGEN bolsters an sistent procedure,” admits Carey. IT security is less about enterprise approach to the department’s IT infrastructure and the technology and more about changing people’s behavior. fills gaps in existing network connectivity. These efforts involve training, transforming culture, and fostering accountability in the handling of sensitive informa- The department’s IT infrastructure is not the only thing being tion. “We’ve embarked,” explains Carey, “upon a journey transformed by next-generation technology. Its workforce to strengthen our management of PII … to create a sense of is also being transformed by the entrance of so-called mil- accountability and ownership for those who manage [such] lennials or the “Net Gen” into the workforce. “We try to information.” take advantage of this talent base as we move into the next- generation network environment. They understand wikis Facilitating the flow of real-time, secure information and and blogs; they understand the new technologies,” says data is vital to the warfighter. “Web 2.0 technologies Carey. Yet, he admits that these “digital natives” make senior present great opportunities to accelerate the delivery of leadership a little bit nervous. “We have to understand the information—they are stretching how we move informa- strengths and skills these younger people bring us,” acknowl- tion around, how we integrate information in real time, our edges Carey. As a result, the department is creating an intern very basic tenets of netcentricity, using the Net to convey program to bring them on board—to appropriately pay, information and move information and integrate informa- retain, and train them to serve the department. “I believe tion to present a picture that a decision maker will use,” that there is an opportunity in the Department of the Navy, notes Carey. Whether employing wikis as a forum to develop in public service, to make a difference, whether it’s for the policy, other tools such as real simple syndication (RSS), taxpayers or the warfighters.” blogs, or Google maps, these Web 2.0 technologies enable the Department of the Navy to use and integrate information far faster than before. “These types of technology seem very To learn more about the U.S. Department of the Navy’s Chief Information Officer, go to www.doncio.navy.mil. simple, but are very powerful,” says Carey.

Along with leveraging the power of web technologies, the To hear The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Robert J. Carey, go to the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org. department is also developing its Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN), with a focus on adaptability, reliability, To download the show as a podcast on your computer or MP3 player, and security. NGEN replaces the Navy Marine Corps from the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org, right click Intranet. “It will continue to unify the Navy–Marine Corps on an audio segment, select Save Target As, and save the file. team in a consistent environment that allows us to access To read the full transcript of The Business of Government Hour’s information from anywhere and be able to make decisions interview with Robert J. Carey, visit the Center’s website at from anywhere,” says Carey. The department lays out its www.businessofgovernment.org. strategy in its Naval Networking Environment 2016 plan.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 21 Profiles in Leadership

Rex W. Cowdry, M.D. Executive Director Maryland Health Care Commission By Michael J. Keegan

Helping Marylanders Make More Informed Health Care Decisions

Health care costs in the U.S. continue to grow at a rate great- Career Highlights er than inflation, while concerns over health care quality and coverage remain. Access, affordability, accountability, choice, • Associate Director, White House National Economic and transparency describe many of the desired elements for Council a 21st century U.S. health care system. Given the public • Acting Director, National Institute of Mental Health policy implications, national and state governments work to identify innovative ways to meet the most pressing and com- • Clinical Director, National Institute of Mental Health plex social challenge facing this nation: promoting health care access and quality while managing cost. In so doing, providing timely and accurate information on availability, cost. “You can’t separate them one from the other,” notes cost, and quality of health care goes a long way to informing Cowdry. Whether it’s focusing on uninsured populations, policy makers. “[In Maryland] it is very important not only to enhancing patient safety, or influencing patient and pro- gather information, but also we want to deliver information vider behavior, these challenges usually involve issues of about different health care options to help people make bet- access, quality, and cost. According to Cowdry, “depending ter health care choices,” explains Dr. Rex Cowdry, executive on whether you count the elderly or not, Maryland’s unin- 1 director, Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC). sured is somewhere between 13 and 15 /2 percent of the population—three-quarters of a million people in the state of MHCC is an independent state agency composed of 15 Maryland. That’s a significant problem.” They lack access to commissioners appointed by the governor with the express ongoing care for chronic conditions needed to prevent hos- mission of promoting informed decision making, increasing pitalization and avoid costs borne from uncompensated care. accountability, and improving access in a rapidly changing health care environment. “We serve as a kind of vetting Maryland has taken steps to expand health care coverage to organization or policy think tank,” says Cowdry, “to provide more working families and small businesses through the estab- advice both to the governor and to the General Assembly.” lishment of Maryland’s Health Insurance Partnership—a pre- The commission performs this function through the work mium subsidy program for small businesses. “We know from of its five centers. Each one focuses on a specific aspect statistics that the group that is least likely to offer and least of the U.S. health care system—from hospital services to likely to be covered are employees of small business,” admits long-term and community-based care to health information Cowdry. “One of the programs—to bring those three-quarters technology. As executive director, Cowdry leads the staff of of a million Marylanders under coverage—was to target these the commission, making sure that its center directors have small businesses that aren’t currently offering insurance.” This what they need to pursue the state’s priorities. He also works partnership intends to make health benefits more affordable, with the MHCC commissioners, the governor’s office, and thus expanding access to quality health care for businesses the Maryland General Assembly to inform the commission’s and their employees. agenda and confirm the state’s health care priorities. Under the partnership, a small business that has two to nine Many of its priorities roll under the classic triad associated full-time employees, has not offered health insurance to its with health care delivery in the U.S: access, quality, and employees during the previous 12 months, and has an average wage below $50,000 is eligible to receive a subsidy of

22 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results “How do you encourage physicians and patients to choose value?…

I think the next few years, regardless of who’s elected in November,

we’ll see a push for changes in the way we finance and organize

health care. I think that states are going to be involved in that process.” [The U.S. puts one-sixth of its entire economy into health care, far more than

any other industrialized nation.] “The question is: Do we get better results?

And the answer is, probably not.”

up to 50 percent of the premium. The total subsidy is divided practices that use certified electronic health records to improve between the employer and the employee based on the con- the quality of patient care. “We know that the group that’s tribution each makes toward the cost of coverage. Currently, going to be hardest to incentivize to take up electronic health MHCC regulates Maryland’s Comprehensive Standard Health records is small physician practices. We are in the process Benefit Plan (CSHBP) for the small group market (2–50 of recruiting physician practices. We know they face a tough employees). Any insurer or health maintenance organization economic case because these are not cheap systems,” notes (HMO) that sells health care coverage in Maryland can sell Cowdry. “We hope that this will actually make a difference.” only this plan. MHCC also has been charged with the administration of the partnership, which began in October 2008. “The cost issue, I think, is the most challenging of all, because costs have proven to be hard to control,” acknowledges Along with access, Maryland has pursued many initiatives to Cowdry. He notes that the U.S. puts one-sixth of its entire enhance health care quality. “We are working to find ways economy into health care—far more than any other indus- to incentivize quality,” says Cowdry. He notes: “Maryland trialized nation. “The question is: Do we get better results? was actually one of the early states to move in the direction And the answer is, probably not.” Cowdry states that the of reporting hospital quality and reporting HMO quality mea- current way that we pay—with third-party payers—“is sort sures.” In response to legislation, the MHCC also established of a strange economics, because nobody sees the price of the Maryland Patient Safety Center, which brings together what they purchase. Everyone’s incentive is to claim as health care providers to study the causes of unsafe practices much of that common benefit as possible.” He sees value and put practical improvements in place to prevent errors. in the consumer-directed, high-deductible plans. “How do The approach combines limited mandatory reporting of serious you encourage physicians and patients to choose value?” adverse events to the state health department and voluntary he asks. “I think the next few years, regardless of who’s improvement activities. MHCC also produces performance elected in November, we’ll see a push for changes in the guides to assist consumers in making informed choices and way we finance and organize health care. I think that states to stimulate quality improvement within health care facilities. are going to be involved in that process.”

Health information technology (HIT) facilitates clinical infor- For Cowdry, MHCC enables him to combine the rewarding mation to the point of care, helping to improve the safety and vocation of a physician with the dedication necessary for pub- quality of care in a cost-effective manner. Maryland continues lic service. “At the end of the day, I think you can say you’re to promote and facilitate the adoption and use of HIT for the there to try to make a difference for your fellow citizens.” purposes of improving the quality and safety of health care. “We know people make better decisions if the information is To learn more about the Maryland Health Care Commission, there to guide their decisions,” declares Cowdry. He notes: “It go to www.mhcc.maryland.gov. should make the provider’s experience better because they don’t miss things. They can provide guideline concordant care To hear The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Dr. Rex W. easily and efficiently. HIT requires two crucial components Cowdry, go to the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org. to be effective—the widespread use of both electronic health records (EHRs) and electronic health information exchange (HIE). To download the show as a podcast on your computer or MP3 player, from the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org, right Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) click on an audio segment, select Save Target As, and save the file. selected Maryland to participate in its five-year electronic health record demonstration project. The demonstration pro- To read the full transcript of The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Dr. Rex W. Cowdry, visit the Center’s website at vides Medicare incentive payments to primary care physician www.businessofgovernment.org.

24 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Profiles in Leadership

Robert Doyle Deputy Director, U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior By Michael J. Keegan

Applying an Ecosystems Approach to Monitoring the Nation’s Natural Resources

Global trends and rapidly evolving societal needs require the Career Highlights proper management of the earth’s natural resources. The misuse of these resources on a global scale can potentially impact this • Assistant Director and Chief Financial Officer, Bureau nation’s economy, national security, quality of life, and natural of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior environment. Meeting these challenges head-on will require • Federal Helium Program Director, Bureau of Land sound and objective scientific information. As the science agen- Management, U.S. Department of the Interior cy for the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a reputation as a leader in natural science monitoring and research. It also plays a vital role in the fed- changes to ecosystems. “These are thematic areas,” says eral response to many challenges facing this nation. “The U.S. Doyle, “that represent complex, multi-scale challenges— Geological Survey has a long, proud tradition and well-earned challenges to which the USGS is uniquely positioned to reputation of providing objective and credible science and apply [its] fundamental understanding of natural processes information products,” declares Robert Doyle, deputy director related to geology, hydrology, biology, and geography in a of the USGS. Over 130 years, since being chartered in 1879, comprehensive, coherent systems approach.” “we have become [a] leading science agency in the nation.” The USGS stresses an ecosystems approach in each the- The USGS has a multi-disciplinary portfolio, spanning matic area. With its multi-disciplinary science, the USGS is biology, geography, geology, geospatial information, and in a unique position to provide a holistic view and a sound water. According to Doyle, it’s the primary source of data understanding of the ecosystems and ecological processes. on the nation’s surface and groundwater resources. It pro- “Mapping, monitoring, modeling, and understanding eco- duces authoritative assessments of energy and minerals on systems is important to informing resource managers in their land and offshore; issues hazard warnings for earthquakes, challenge of balancing land-use and land-change issues volcanoes, and landslides; conducts research on wildlife with human needs,” explains Doyle. Ecosystems respond to diseases and ecosystem services; and serves as the premier changing climate as well as affect global climate. As the U.S. civilian mapping agency. “We are dedicated to the timely, Department of the Interior manages one in every five acres of relevant, and impartial study of the landscape, natural land in this country, the USGS plays a critical role in the U.S. resources, and natural hazards that threaten [the nation],” climate-change science research. “USGS scientists have spent says Doyle. The USGS pursues its mission with a staff of decades conducting research and collecting information on 8,500 located across the country, collaborating with many climate change and its effect on ecosystems and its implica- public and academic institutions, and operating on an tion for resource managers,” notes Doyle. As climate predic- annual budget of about $1.4 billion. tions are made, “USGS scientists can use their understanding of how ecosystems function to predict how ecosystems will The USGS pursues its mission based on a solid science change in response, allowing resource managers to develop strategy and a systems approach to research. Its strategy adoption or mitigation strategies.” The USGS is engaged in falls into six thematic areas: climate variability and change; the development of a Climate-Effects Network, which will energy and minerals security; the national hazards, risk, and serve as an early warning system for resource managers and resilience assessment program; environmental risk to public policy makers so that they can identify problems before they health; securing water; and understanding and predicting

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 25 “Mapping, monitoring, modeling, and understanding ecosystems is

important to informing resource managers in their challenge of balancing

land-use and land-change issues with human needs.” “The U.S. Geological Survey has a long, proud tradition and well-earned reputation of providing objective

and credible science and information products.”

become chronic or costly. The debate on climate change has The USGS is also working with the State of California on an many dimensions to it. “Our focus,” according to Doyle, “has earthquake drill, entitled ”Great Shakeout,” which is based been on the effects: trying to develop adoption and mitigation on the impact of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The purpose strategies to preserve and protect [our] resources.” of this event is to raise awareness of earthquake preparedness and teach residents how they can prepare for a major earth- Energy and mineral resources are the backbone of human quake. The exercise also includes discussions with Canada and food supplies, economies, and national security. “The U.S. Mexico to explore cross-border implications and opportunities. is the largest user of mineral commodities and energy resources in the world, and our economy and our standard The USGS leverages new and evolving social network- of living depend on them,” says Doyle. The USGS plans ing technologies to meet its mission. Blogs, podcasts, and to broaden its research in this area over the next decade. wikis enable the USGS to reach a new audience in new Over the last four years, the USGS has been studying the ways. The USGS is using technologies to convey technical resource potential of oil and gas on public lands. It is topics and essential points in a citizen-friendly manner. also looking at alternative energy sources such as thermal, “Our latest statistics on our web,” says Doyle, “show that biofuels, oil shale, wind, and solar energy. “The nation’s 1.8 million people have already accessed our site to take energy demands will continue to grow. It is estimated that advantage of the podcasts that we’ve made available.” the United States will need to increase its electric-power generating capacity 40 percent to 50 percent over the next For Doyle, the USGS combines science with public service. It 20 years,” explains Doyle. The USGS is poised to inform offers a great opportunity to engage, be challenged, and make policy makers and resource managers on fuel alternatives. a difference. Back in 2006, the USGS was a recipient of the Service to America Medal for community service. The USGS Energy is not the only natural resource issue facing the U.S. Hurricane Response team used technology to help locate and Doyle points out that the 21st century presents a new set rescue thousands of Hurricane Katrina victims and personally of water resource challenges. Water shortages and water- conducted rescue missions that saved thousands of lives. “I use conflicts have become more commonplace across the think [this is] symptomatic of the kind of people that we have nation—for irrigation of crops, expanding cities and commu- working at the [USGS], the kind of work they do, and the kind nities; for energy production; and for environmental health of contributions they make to improve the lives of people in and species protection under the law. “Knowing our nation’s this country,” declares Doyle. water assets and rates of use on an ongoing basis is crucial to effective water management,” says Doyle. In FY 2009, the USGS plans to begin a 10-year study of water flow, storage, To learn more about the United States Geological Survey, go to www.usgs.gov. and use in order to inform resource managers and policy makers on water availability, location, and conditions. To hear The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Robert Doyle, go to the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org. The USGS also plays a critical role in the federal response to hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and natural fires. “We To download the show as a podcast on your computer or MP3 player, have an extensive network of sensors to model, forecast, from the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org, right and detect natural hazard events. We work in collaboration click on an audio segment, select Save Target As, and save the file. with partners around the world as part of the Global Seismic Network, the Advanced System Seismic Network, and the To read the full transcript of The Business of Government Hour’s new National Volcanic Early Warning System,” says Doyle. interview with Robert Doyle, visit the Center’s website at These efforts seek to provide hazard and disaster information www.businessofgovernment.org. where and when it’s needed.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 27 Profiles in Leadership Profiles in Leadership

Mitchell L. Glassman Director, Division of Resolutions and Receiverships Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation By Michael J. Keegan

Keeping a Watchful Eye on the Stability of the Nation’s Banks

Bank failures, more so than any other corporate collapse, Career Highlights directly undermine the stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial banking system. As a result, preventing and • Deputy Director, Division of Resolutions and mitigating bank failures is a major public policy concern and Receiverships, Federal Deposit Insurance goes right to the core of the mission of the Federal Deposit Corporation Insurance Corporation, the FDIC. Through its various pro- • Dean, FDIC Corporate University College of grams, it seeks to mitigate and limit the ripple effect bank Leadership Development failures can have on the U.S. economy while maintaining the stability and public confidence in our national financial • Director, Assistance Transactions Branch, Division of system. The FDIC does this by insuring deposits in banks Liquidation, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and thrift institutions; identifying, monitoring, and addressing risks to the deposit insurance funds; and limiting the effect Glassman manages the Division of Resolutions and Receiver- on the economy and the financial system when an institu- ships (DRR), which along with Supervision and Consumer tion fails. Marking its 75th anniversary in 2008, the FDIC’s Protection, and Insurance and Research, represent FDIC’s “function, its creation was based on maintaining stability and three core divisions, performing much of its mission-critical public confidence in the nation’s financial system, and [its] activities. DRR oversees and resolves failing and failed finan- mission is still the same as it was back in 1933,” declares cial institutions, which includes, among other responsibili- Mitchell Glassman, who has led the FDIC’s Division of ties, ensuring depositors have prompt access to insured funds Resolutions and Receiverships since 2000. and the liquidating of remaining bank assets in the most cost-efficient manner. It is quite a significant mission for an independent government organization with just over 4,500 staff, an operating “Well, first of all, the FDIC never closes a bank. It is the budget of approximately $1.1 billion, and reserves hover- primary regulator that actually has the ability to pull the ing around $45 billion—an organization that receives no charter [of a bank]. By law, if the charter is pulled, then congressional appropriation. Its operations are funded by the FDIC becomes the receiver, and as receiver we have premiums that banks and thrift institutions pay for deposit multiple functions. One of the primary roles we have is as insurance coverage as well as its earnings from investments. the deposit insurer—our first priorities: take care of depos- “Currently there are about 8,500 insured depository insti- itors,” explains Glassman. Generally, a bank is closed tutions—about 7,200 are commercial banks and approxi- when it is unable to meet its obligations to depositors and mately 1,200 are what you would consider thrifts,” describes creditors—its liabilities exceed assets. In such cases, a Glassman. The FDIC regulates 5,100 that are state-chartered, regulator pulls a bank’s charter, placing it into “receiver- non-member banks of the Federal Reserve System and are ship” and putting Glassman’s office into high gear. “We therefore regulated and insured by the FDIC. “As far as size,” have to do a determination of the liability side of the bal- says Glassman, “we have approximately 160 banks that are ance sheet—where the depositors accounting [rest]. [We] over $2 billion, which represents about 2 percent of the total determine who is insured, who is uninsured, and then pro- banks. The vast majority of the banks that the FDIC insures vide the money to the depositors as quickly as possible,” are small community banks.”

28 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results “We try to get at least 90 days’ notice that there is an issue [with a

bank], but there are occasions where we may only get one day’s

notice. We have to be able to react quickly, efficiently, so we

have five teams of people standing by.” “The majority of those banks that are on the [problem banks] list actually

get recapitalized—they get merged or handled by the open market, where

the FDIC does not have to get involved…. Being on the list actually

means that [the bank is] getting more regulatory scrutiny.”

describes Glassman. He underscores that “no other country Effectively mobilizing DRR teams has become a critical focus in the world has this role as receiver—that we basically for the FDIC. Experts project bank failures to increase over control the liability side of the balance sheet, but also the next several years in the wake of the housing and credit the asset side of the balance sheet.” These assets include market crisis. “During tough economic times failures can go everything from mortgage portfolios and real estate to up,” explains Glassman. Between mid 2004 to early 2007, office supplies and furniture. the FDIC experienced the longest period without a bank failure. That’s in the past, as the FDIC recently increased its Prior to the recent financial crisis, the FDIC had insured “problem” banks list from 90 (at the end of March 2008) to different types of deposits up to $100,000 per depositor 117 (in June 2008). “The majority of those banks that are on per bank. (The limit has since been raised to $250,000 the list,” assures Glassman, “actually get recapitalized—they until the end of 2009, as part of the bailout bill passed by get merged or handled by the open market, where the FDIC Congress after this interview had taken place.) These types does not have to get involved…. Historically, it’s always of deposit products include checking, negotiable order of been less than 10 percent. Being on the list actually means withdrawal (NOW), and savings accounts; money market that [the bank is] getting more regulatory scrutiny.” deposit accounts (MMDAs); and time deposits such as certificates of deposit (CDs). Other accounts such as individual The changing landscape has become more evident with the retirement accounts (IRAs) are insured up to $250,000. recent failures of major financial institutions from California When a depositor has excess funds they become uninsured mortgage lender IndyMac to, more recently, Washington depositors, which means they would share in the proceeds Mutual and Wachovia. Few predict recent trends to approach collected from the liquidation of the bank’s remaining the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. Yet, Sheila Bair, assets. Glassman describes the following example, which FDIC chairman, has warned that bank failures may metasta- is based on insurance limits prior to the recent increase: size. “There’s really no magic number,” observes Glassman. “if somebody had $110,000 [in an insured bank], we would “The FDIC needs to be prepared whether there’s one failure pay [them] $100,000. We would give them a receiver certifi- or multiple failures.” cate for [the remaining] $10,000. We may be able to return 80 percent of that portion, so the net effect is to receive $108,000.” To learn more about the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, go to www.fdic.gov.

The FDIC monitors the financial condition of its insured banks, gathering information, tracking liquidity, and identify- To hear The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Mitchell L. Glassman, go to the Center’s website at ing potential troubled institutions. “We try to get at least www.businessofgovernment.org. 90 days’ notice that there is an issue, but there are occasions where we may only get one day’s notice. We have to be To download the show as a podcast on your computer or MP3 player, able to react quickly, efficiently, so we have five teams of from the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org, right people standing by. I created a ‘watch commander program’; click on an audio segment, select Save Target As, and save the file. basically every week somebody is on call. I make one call and mobilize [our] people,” explains Glassman. To read the full transcript of The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Mitchell L. Glassman, visit the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org.

30 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Profiles in Leadership

Robert Howard Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs By Ruth Gordon

Transforming IT Processes to Better Serve Veterans

The obligation to help United States veterans can be traced Career Highlights back to 1776, when Congress passed an act to provide pay to all officers and enlisted men disabled in service. In • Vice President and General Manager, Analysis 1865, thousands gathered near the U.S. Capitol for President and Learning Technologies Division, Cubic Lincoln’s second inaugural address. Lincoln spoke of the • Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget, U.S. travesties of the Civil War and society’s need to unify and Department of the Army, U.S. Department of “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his Defense widow and his orphan….” • Major General, United States Army (Ret.) Though much has changed over the years, this sentiment remains constant in the form of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA): to provide competent and compassionate the VA increased the quality of its health care delivery through high-quality health care, benefits, and memorial services to decentralization and holding individuals accountable based this country’s veterans. Today, the VA is the second-largest on a set of criteria. “When we did that,” admits Howard, cabinet-level department in the United States with over “we did not pay enough attention to standardizing from an 240,000 employees in the United States and its territories, IT standpoint. We’ve now recognized that that created prob- supporting close to 8 million veterans and families, and with lems. It’s one of the main reasons the IT reorganization took a budget close to $90 billion. In its effort to provide veterans place: to try and bring a little more standardization and vis- world-class health care, benefits, and services, the VA has ibility over financial systems.” leveraged advances in information technology to meet its enduring mission. Howard and his team have discovered many benefits from this IT transformation process. He reports, “The IT reor- As the assistant secretary for information and technology and ganization is helping now to get visibility over areas that chief information officer, Robert Howard describes his role were not adequately resourced in the past and do need to as advisor to the VA secretary “on all matters pertaining to be brought up to speed … particularly in the infrastructure acquisition and management of IT systems.” He adds: “I’m area.” From a human resource perspective, the VA is also responsible for overseeing the operation of VA’s computer creating a career development program for those in IT. Last, systems to telecommunications networks that support medi- and probably one of the most important, is the advantage cal, benefit, and cemetery activities.” related to IT and data security.

He has also led the department’s IT office through a major Howard has identified many lessons learned from this major transformation. The core aspects of this transformation involve reorganization. He offers five pieces of advice for other fed- IT standardization, interoperability, and compatibility of IT eral agencies that may undergo similar large-scale efforts. programs. No small feat in an organization that has a recent The first, and most important, is gaining senior leadership history of moving toward decentralization. Howard explains: commitment. Howard candidly reports that the changes are “It’s difficult, because one of the unique things about the “so massive and affect so many people” that senior leadership VA—it’s a decentralized organization.” He further notes that is critical. The second point is to implement the transformation

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 31 “We are moving to a patient-centric environment, where veteran health information can

be shared more easily…. [So] no matter where the veteran goes, the access to his or her

medical information is very easy, to the point where it can actually be accessed by other

government agencies.” “When we did that [increased the quality of health care delivery through decentralization], we did not

pay enough attention to standardizing from an IT standpoint. We’ve now recognized that that created

problems. It’s one of the main reasons the IT reorganization took place: to try and bring a little more

standardization and visibility over financial systems.”

in its entirety and to keep to an aggressive schedule. The VA several examples of how security will be strengthened. He started with an incremental implementation plan, which was hopes “to improve the way we do background investiga- not as successful. The third point is to set performance mea- tions, to improve the way we do identity checks, [and] to sures and to hold senior leadership “accountable for achiev- improve our access management.” According to Howard, ing success.” Howard also underscores the importance of centralized leadership has enabled the VA to “mandate being decisive and advises: “develop a plan and stay with it, security methodologies.” In response to the VA’s 2006 stay focused.” His final point is the importance of perform- IT security breach, and as a result of the new centralized ing an “in-depth assessment of existing conditions.” His team authority, the VA has encrypted all VA laptops—some found many issues not previously identified that could have 18,000 in total. For Howard, this response “would have been uncovered and dealt with in a more timely fashion. been enormously difficult under the previous decentralized way of doing business.” Along with its large-scale IT transformation project, the department is also modernizing its Veterans Health Howard admits that the IT transformation and realignment Information System and Technology Architecture (VistA). has involved an aggressive set of initiatives. With close to VistA is an enterprise-wide information system built around 7,000 employees dedicated to many of these initiatives, an electronic health record, used throughout the VA medi- Howard notes: “We’ve a lot of high-energy folks engaged cal system. It is the primary repository of clinical, adminis- in this, all working very hard to make IT within the VA trative/financial, and infrastructure data in the VA. VistA a lot better,” which ultimately, and more importantly, modernization focuses on scalability and interface, placing supports the veterans. it on a new platform and enhancing interoperability. Howard explains this modernization: “We are moving to a patient- centric environment, where veteran health information can To learn more about the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, go to www.va.gov. be shared more easily…. [So] no matter where the veteran goes, the access to his or her medical information is very easy, to the point where it can actually be accessed by other To hear The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Robert Howard, go to the Center’s website at government agencies.” www.businessofgovernment.org.

Howard also discussed another priority of the VA, which To download the show as a podcast on your computer or MP3 player, is making the agency the gold standard of data security. from the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org, right After the 2006 IT security breach, the department con- click on an audio segment, select Save Target As, and save the file. ducted “a very robust assessment of existing conditions from a security standpoint,” says Howard. After the assessment To read the full transcript of The Business of Government Hour’s was complete, an action plan, with close to 400 separate interview with Robert Howard, visit the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org. actions, was drafted. Each action “contributes in some way to tightening the security throughout the VA.” He provides

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 33 Profiles in Leadership

Jonathan Q. Pettus Chief Information Officer National Aeronautics and Space Administration By Lauren Kronthal

Enabling IT Collaboration Across the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) celebrates its 50th year, it continues to pursue one Career Highlights of the most complex and exciting missions in the federal • Director, Office of the Chief Information Officer, government. With cutting-edge research in aeronautics, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center space science, and earth science, NASA expands our knowledge of the universe and applies these insights to • Manager, Integrated Enterprise Management our daily lives. “We like to say we’re about pioneering the Program Competency Center, NASA future of space exploration, scientific discovery, and aero- • Integration Manager, Integrated Enterprise nautics research,” says Jonathan Q. Pettus, NASA’s chief Management Program, NASA information officer. “What we do is about innovation and exploration—and inspiration—in terms of the human desire • Computer Engineer, Marshall Center to explore and discover.” He adds: “We focus a lot on human spaceflights, but many people probably don’t know we have over 50 science missions. Aeronautics research, And especially in this day and age, I am responsible for scientific discovery, and human spaceflight are the major security for all of those assets.” themes within NASA. It’s what we’ve been about from our earliest days.” With such an expansive set of responsibilities, Pettus faces many challenges: “First is ensuring our IT invest- A few years ago, NASA received a defining challenge for ments are focused on enabling the mission and that the 21st century: to expand human presence in space. The there’s consistency around infrastructure. Interoperability, success of this ambitious vision rests on NASA’s pursuit of from an application and infrastructure perspective, is a an effective information technology strategy. With roughly significant overarching challenge and many of the other 17,000 employees, 40,000 contractors, and an annual challenges fall from that,” outlines Pettus. He continues: budget of approximately $17 billion, NASA’s geographic “NASA’s tradition is for centers to be very autonomous…. footprint consists of 10 major locations throughout the With the mandate to return to the moon and then further country with headquarters in Washington, D.C. Some of the into the solar system, the model going forward is for our major centers include the Johnson Space Center in Houston, agency to collaborate and leverage resources that exist Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, and Ames across the centers in a much more granular way. From a Research Center on the West Coast. CIO perspective, that means our organizational model, our style of how we execute our programs, is changing. “The chief information officer,” explains Pettus, “is the This has an impact on our strategy, which is ensuring that senior most IT official in the agency. I’m responsible for IT is a key tool in helping integration/collaboration across the agency’s IT infrastructure, our data centers, networks, center boundaries.” end-user devices, the components that make up our infrastructure, as well as facilitating and architecting our overall According to Pettus, the third challenge is openness and applications landscape, the systems used to automate busi- data security: “If you think about what we’re about, creating ness processes and exchange information/store information. knowledge, sharing information for the advancement of

34 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results “What we do is about innovation and exploration—and

inspiration—in terms of the human desire to explore

and discover.” “If you think about what we’re about, creating knowledge, sharing

information for the advancement of humankind, then we’re all about

sharing information, but we also have the challenge of security and

securing the information. So balancing this is a big challenge.”

humankind, then we’re all about sharing information, “At NASA we’ve tried to clarify the difference between IT but we also have the challenge of security and securing solutions that support the mission and those that are embed- the information. So balancing this is a big challenge.” ded in the mission,” says Pettus. “If you think about our financial systems or our networks that allow our employees Pettus also acknowledges that NASA continues to modern- to collaborate, that’s all IT that supports the mission. But, if ize and standardize the use of technology. “When we talk you think about avionics systems that guide a spacecraft, tons about our IT strategy at NASA, we talk about four principles. of IT there, but not so much IT that needs to be governed by One, IT should serve to enable the mission. We’re about the CIO.” He continues: “One of the difficulties we’ve had innovation. But sometimes we have not adapted to the is distinguishing between the two. So we’ve tried to clarify availability of commercial IT quickly enough. So when that definition. And we’ve tried to implement processes to we talk about ensuring our IT’s about enabling the mission, provide better visibility into IT investments, because you can’t what we really mean is that we don’t create IT just to be improve decision making if you don’t have better visibility.” innovative in IT. We are innovating around our mission. And where IT supports that is where we innovate. But we When asked about careers in IT in government, Pettus reflects: rely on the private sector where we can—especially where “Having a role in a government organization gives you unique we have commodity-style type IT.” opportunities. It provides you with the ability to gain some experiences more quickly in terms of responsibilities that “Second, our IT should be about integrating information may not be available to you in some other areas. From an IT and business processes across the organization—using IT perspective, I would say your success will be determined as to allow our workforce to collaborate across our center and much by how you communicate and build relationships, artic- organizational boundaries in order to design and develop ulate a particular need, or persuade the need for a particular our new spaceflight systems as well as our science missions project or initiative, as it will on your technology prowess.” and so forth.”

Third, he notes that NASA must realize efficiencies as well. To learn more about NASA, go to www.nasa.gov. “Along with that, we ought to be efficient in our implementation of IT. Through the years, we’ve had no short- age of efforts to try to be efficient through implementing To hear The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Jonathan Q. Pettus, go to the Center’s website at IT. And in doing so, we’ve created some inefficiencies in www.businessofgovernment.org. our IT itself. So in our rush to create automation, in some cases, we’ve done so without an eye toward ensuring that To download the show as a podcast on your computer or MP3 player, we’re efficient with our IT,” says Pettus. The last principle from the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org, right is that as “we implement information technology solutions, click on an audio segment, select Save Target As, and save the file. we ought to ensure that they’re secure. At a high level, we’ve used those principles to sort of outline our IT strategy To read the full transcript of The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Jonathan Q. Pettus, visit the Center’s website at going forward.” www.businessofgovernment.org.

36 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Profiles in Leadership

Lieutenant General James G. Roudebush, M.D. Surgeon General United States Air Force By Michael J. Keegan

Saving Lives and Improving the Treatment of Traumatic Injuries

Since its inception in the summer of 1949, the Air Force Career Highlights Medical Service (AFMS) has sought to provide its airmen and their families with first-rate health care and benefits • Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Air Force anywhere and at any time. In support of deployed forces, • U.S. Transportation Command and Headquarters the AFMS also plays an essential role in the most effective Air Mobility Command Surgeon, Scott Air Force joint casualty care system in military history—a system that Base, U.S Department of the Air Force has saved thousands of lives that otherwise would have been lost on the battlefield. “The first thing that we do is work to • 89th Medical Group Commander, Andrews Air Force both establish and sustain a healthy, fit force, and that has Base, U.S. Department of the Air Force to do with all parameters of health,” says Lieutenant General (Dr.) James G. Roudebush, surgeon general, U.S. Air Force (USAF). General Roudebush manages the AFMS: allocating capabilities, and a joint theater trauma system that lever- resources, developing strategies and programs, and advis- ages Army and Navy capabilities, the AFMS has the ability ing the secretary of the Air Force and senior Department of to provide the right care, at the right time, and in the right Defense leadership on health efforts within the USAF. “[I] place. “This scalable, modular, and lean capability allows make sure that every Air Force medic can do their job, have us to move casualties from point of injury back to definitive the training, resources, and capabilities they need to do the care, on average, within three days, which is remarkable,” job wherever they find it,” declares Roudebush. He does exclaims Roudebush. “It is very effective: It preserves forces this with an annual budget of around $7.7 billion, supported and allows us to respond to virtually any contingency, any- by some 43,000 staff, operating over 70 military treatment where in the world.” facilities worldwide. It preserves forces indeed. Its hallmark: the lowest casualty-to- Yet, it is the worldwide “forward” presence that has changed death rates in the history of modern warfare. This remarkable over the years. AFMS has pursued its mission with nimble- performance saves lives, but it also enables AFMS to learn ness and adaptability that reflects what Roudebush calls the how better to treat traumatic injuries. “This joint theater trauma “doctrinal” mission of the USAF. During the Cold War, “we system in Iraq has a [trauma] registry that records all injuries, had very heavy, very far-forward-positioned contingency all aspects of injuries, so that we are able to not only provide hospitals—turnkey operations—that were designed to oper- the care, but also to examine the care to see where improve- ate in-place to take care of casualties, and then only transi- ments could be made. We learn how to better manage the tion [them] to the United States if the condition required it or kind of trauma that we’re seeing,” explains Roudebush. time permitted,” explains Roudebush. These findings enhance non-battlefield care as well. With this According to Roudebush, the post–Cold War period has understanding, “we improve the care that we provide all our relied more on an expeditionary Air Force. As a result, the servicemen, but share that knowledge with our [non-military] AFMS has transformed. “We moved from relatively heavy, medical counterparts.” In fact, the AFMS partners with many fixed capabilities to very light, lean, modular [presence],” to advance its research, health care delivery, training, and says Roudebush. With a lean forward presence, air evacuation disease surveillance. Roudebush points to its very productive

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 37 “This scalable, modular, and lean capability allows us to move

casualties from point of injury back to definitive care, on average,

within three days, which is remarkable.” “This joint theater trauma system in Iraq has a [trauma] registry that records all injuries, all aspects of

injuries, so that we are able to not only provide the care, but also to examine the care to see where

improvements could be made. We learn how to better manage the kind of trauma that we’re seeing.”

partnership with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center works to provide a continuum of care. “We have mental (UPMC) involving the virtual medical trainer. “The virtual or health providers embedded in our family health units to simulation capabilities are a very cost-effective way to train provide the full spectrum of care for both our active duty and prepare our medics to do a variety of missions,” says and their family members. It allows us to approach issues Roudebush. AFMS is also working with UPMC on diabetic in a way that is conducive to quick recognition, resolu- research, and with other organizations, such as the Veterans tion as well as reducing any perceived stigma. In addition, Health Administration, on informatics, traumatic brain injury there is also a capability called [military] OneSource, which (TBI), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) research. is a network system of support functions which are acces- sible through [www.militaryonesource.com],” explains TBI has received significant focus of late, often referred to Roudebush. as the signature injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. According to Roudebush, the improvised explosive device For Roudebush, “the real strength of our Air Force Medical (IED)—the signature weapon faced by U.S. troops in these Service is first, last, and always [our] people…. Recruiting conflicts—has a variety of injuries associated with it. “It is always a challenge—to have the best and the brightest could be a blast, a penetrating injury, a concussive force come forward—but we are blessed with folks that do just which can result in traumatic brain injury. I think as we put that. I would very strongly encourage anyone who has an traumatic brain injury into the constellation of injuries that interest in the medical field to consider the military. It’s not can occur as a result of the really devastating weapons that for everyone, but it’s an opportunity to both exercise your we’re seeing, it does help us think about the individual as a skills as well as serve our nation.” whole person and think through the implications for caring for that individual,” explains Roudebush. To learn more about the U.S. Air Force Surgeon General and the AFMS, go to www.sg.af.mil. With TBI, there is a whole spectrum that goes from very, very mild to very, very severe. “One of the challenges of dealing with traumatic brain injury is fleshing out our knowl- To hear The Business of Government Hour’s interview with Lt. Gen. James G. Roudebush, go to the Center’s website at edge of the entire spectrum of TBI, both in our ability to www.businessofgovernment.org. detect it, to characterize it, and then appropriately treat it.”

He acknowledges that Congress has been forthcoming with To download the show as a podcast on your computer or MP3 player, resources. “We have the resources, we have the opportunity, from the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org, right and we clearly have the need to better understand and to be click on an audio segment, select Save Target As, and save the file. better able to take care of this particular injury.” To read the full transcript of The Business of Government Hour’s Psychological health is also an important aspect of total force interview with Lt. Gen. James G. Roudebush, visit the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org. health. From pre-deployment to post-deployment, the AFMS

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 39 Profiles in Leadership

J. D. Sicilia Director, Lean Six Sigma Program Office U.S. Department of Defense By Michael J. Keegan

Promoting Quality Improvement Methods for a More Efficient Military

As one of the largest and most complex organizations in the Career Highlights world, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) manages a budget of about $515 billion, employs some 5 million peo- • Lean Six Sigma Deployment Leader, Defense ple spread over 140 countries, and carries almost 500 times Intelligence Agency the inventory of the world’s largest commercial retail opera- • Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.) tion. Recently, the department has engaged in a massive business transformation effort to modernize its processes, systems, and information flows. “Leadership decided,” says this methodology works. “Lean,” explains Sicilia, “means J. D. Sicilia, director, DoD Lean Six Sigma Program Office, taking away the excess of a process—the non-value-added “that we needed to transform our business operations in sup- steps. It’s focused on speed and efficiency. You eliminate port of the warfighter. A number of years ago, it founded waste, you create more efficiency, and so you’re continually the Business Transformation Agency, whose primary func- viewing your process with an eye towards lean: speed and tion is to guide the transformation of the business operations efficiency.” Six Sigma focuses more on quality than speed, throughout the entire department.” Following this course, seeking to reduce variability and increase the quality of pro- the department instituted a continuous process improvement cesses. “We’re going to look at a process to eliminate defects,” initiative. DoD saw the benefit of reducing business process explains Sicilia, “so we have a better product at the end. It [is] variability, improving cycle time, eliminating waste, and a mind-set of standardizing whatever you did so that you are increasing overall quality in key support functions. consistently producing the same product every time.”

In so doing, DoD sought to institutionalize the use of Lean In combination, these tools make for an efficacious approach, Six Sigma (LSS)—a quality improvement method used in complementing each other when applied in sequence. It the private sector with much success. “What I do as the makes no sense to perfect a wasteful process. “We lean the director of the [DoD Lean Six Sigma] office,” says Sicilia, process first, then we make it standard—so it’s consistent— “is to serve as the department-level proponent for Lean Six so you have a fast, efficient process and a quality product.” Sigma.” His office seeks to accelerate the use of LSS depart- Doing this right requires understanding the value to the cus- ment-wide. “I help develop the guidance, the standards, tomer who consumes a product or service, identifying all of the policy, and identify the best practices that are being the steps in the process, and knowing how these products conducted across the enterprise.… What I’m trying to do or services move through such a process. Having this knowl- is provide a road map for emerging programs and serve as edge enables an LSS practitioner to better apply the method’s an enabler for those who have already started programs,” principles and realize benefits. explains Sicilia. According to Sicilia, the warfighter has directly benefited Since the 1990s, various components of the U.S. military from Lean Six Sigma. He cites the success of the mine- have had success using Lean Six Sigma. Its use expanded resistant ambush-protected vehicle (MRAP). “Every time we at the beginning of this decade to the point where the U.S. produce an MRAP, somebody is going to be able to sustain Army has estimated a savings of over $1 billion derived an improvised explosive device or a direct round,” explains from its many LSS projects. It is critical to understand how Sicilia. When the MRAP depot established its production

40 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results “We lean the process first, then we make it standard—

so it’s consistent—so you have a fast, efficient process

and a quality product.” “Ultimately, [the goal] is to make it a way of living, a way of thinking.

You begin to look for waste in whatever you do. Once you start thinking

that way, you can change the way that you are doing things so that it

is more efficient.”

baseline, it was only five MRAPs per day. It took over a LSS is no panacea. It is one of many tools, but for it to be year for the depot, using Lean Six Sigma, to hit its goal of successful it must be institutionalized. “Ultimately, [the goal] 50 MRAPs per day. “What that meant is 50 MRAPs were is to make it a way of living, a way of thinking,” says Sicilia. coming off the line at the end of the day, which meant peo- “You begin to look for waste in whatever you do. Once you ple were coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan alive with start thinking that way, you can change the way that you are their limbs.” doing things so that it is more efficient.”

For Sicilia, the MRAP example illustrates how the application DoD is a different animal; one cannot simply apply a pri- of LSS can directly enhance the safety and effectiveness of vate industry LSS model to it. DoD is too big, complex, and the warfighter. The Navy has had success using LSS, reduc- geographically dispersed, and exercises significant decentral- ing cycle time on scheduled maintenance of its F-18 aircraft ized command and control. Sicilia points out that finding the by two years and resulting in more available air support to right mix of collaboration, policy, and guidance in DoD is the warfighter. Each of the military services has success sto- like herding cats. It can be done, but not without significant ries in this area. More recently, the department has applied forethought and effort. To do this, he applies the lessons he this method to reform its security clearance process. Its has learned from his time farming, ranching, and competing current clearance process takes in excess of a year. “We’re in rodeos. He makes it a practice to seek out the hard jobs. working right now on a process that will reduce that to “Even though they will be hard to accomplish,” declares months,” says Sicilia. Sicilia, “there’s a greater sense of satisfaction when you complete them.” Lean Six Sigma has faced some criticism. Though it helps to improve existing products and routines, some contend it may actually hinder innovation. Sicilia takes issue with this To learn more about DoD’s Lean Six Sigma Program Office, contact DoD LSS Program at [email protected]. view: “The only thing that would stifle innovation is [our] own imagination.” He points out that LSS enables one to identify a process, measure information, identify the criti- To hear The Business of Government Hour’s interview with J. D. Sicilia, go to the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org. cal root causes of its problems, and design from a potential “blank page” a new or improved process. “Knowing all that To download the show as a podcast on your computer or MP3 player, we know,” he says, “how would you design the world-class from the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org, right click process? I don’t know how anybody could say that would on an audio segment, select Save Target As, and save the file. stifle innovation,” asserts Sicilia. To read the full transcript of The Business of Government Hour’s interview with J. D. Sicilia, visit the Center’s website at www.businessofgovernment.org.

42 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in WashingtonForum: Title

By Jonathan D. Breul, Forum Editor

Forum Introduction: Helping the Next Administration “Washington is a Succeed in Washington policy town. If you are focused on The 44th president of the United States takes the oath of office on January 20, 2009. politics or policy, Throughout the rest of the year, 1,200 presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed officials, 1,400 Schedule C appointees, and 800 non-career Senior Executive Service ‘management’ is appointees (not to mention another 3,000 appointees to boards and commissions) will often ignored join the 6,500 career senior executives in managing the federal government. or simply left for Management Matters someone else to The transition from campaign to governing requires that presidential policies be trans- figure out.” formed from rhetoric into an actionable agenda and then into concrete results. Neither good policies nor sound investments are likely to work, let along succeed, if undermined by poor implementation. Too often, however, federal management issues are considered somewhere between “uninteresting” and “a waste of time.” The reason: Washington is a policy town. If you are focused on politics or policy, “management” is often ignored or simply left for someone else to figure out.

Managing the federal government remains a complex and difficult assignment, both technically and politically. Numerous failures in recent years—such as the response to Hurricane Katrina, veterans’ care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, regulatory lapses, and bungled contracts in Iraq—underscore the need to pay attention not only to policy but also to whether and how policies and programs are actually executed.

What Is ‘Management’? Management includes not only administrative management functions (such as financial management, personnel, and IT), but also program and policy management (for example, program delivery and “outcomes”). It encompasses leadership and oversight of how agencies devise, obtain enactment of, implement, manage, evaluate, and then, if necessary, modify the statutory programs and policies for which they are responsible, consistent with the policies of the incumbent administration.

Why Is Managing in the Federal Government So Difficult? So why, then, does managing the federal government prove to be so difficult? First, the extraordinary size of the federal government makes it hard to manage. There must, of necessity, be substantial delegation of authority. And delegation in any organization poses risks. These risks can be reduced by appropriate oversight and control systems. But, for a variety of reasons, such systems have suffered from an ironic combination of underattention (producing laxity) and overattention (producing confused accountability and micromanagement).

Second, the political leadership, in both the executive branch and Congress, tends not to be interested in management. The conspicuous exception to this general observation concerns pinpointing blame for scandals. The political system rewards this behavior. There is the related problem of expectations in the selection of top-level policy and program leaders. Heads of agencies, deputy heads of agencies, and program directors are rarely chosen for, explicitly charged with, or generally held accountable for “management and performance” in the nuts-and-bolts sense.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 43 Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

Third, short-term budget objectives tend to override interest in the management effectiveness of longer-term investments, whether in physical or human capital.

Fourth is the problem of the short tenure of political appointees. Their average term in office remains all too brief. New administrations want to make their mark, develop their own programs, and advance initiatives of their own in relatively short time frames. There is little building across successive waves of leadership, and less attention to the invisible returns from which successors might benefit.

Two Books to Help the New Administration Succeed This Forum highlights core insights from two recently published books by the IBM Center, which seek to help the new administration succeed in Washington: Getting It Done: A Guide for Government Executives and The Operator’s Manual for the New Administration.

The first book, Getting It Done, describes how to successfully operate in the political environment of Washington. It begins by spelling out an insider’s view of “Six ‘To Dos’” to succeed in the federal government. It follows with key insights and advice from 14 well- respected “veterans” from key stakeholder groups, such as the White House, Congress, citizens, interest groups, the media, and others. In each case, these authors explain how to successfully deal with their particular organization in order to advance “your agenda.”

Getting It Done’s “Six ‘To Dos’” raise a number of interesting issues and highlight pitfalls confronting government executives. The IBM Center’s Presidential Transition website offers you an opportunity to comment or provide your own illustration of how previous officials may have successfully, or not so successfully, dealt with such issues. Take at look at www.businessofgovernment.org/transition2008 to share your thoughts or examples with others.

The second book, The Operator’s Manual for the New Administration, is an instruction guide on how to operate the “machinery” of government. It too is written for newly appointed agency heads—those who lead departments, bureaus, or programs, and their senior management teams, consisting of both political and career executives. The Operator’s Manual describes how new agency heads and their management teams can use eight important “tools” (such as performance, money, contracting, etc.) to help them implement their policy and program objectives. Rather than looking at the operation and management of government from just one perspective (for example, people or IT), this book examines a full set of operational tools with the aim of showing how they can help achieve your goals.

In the Foreword, Government Executive Editor in Chief Tim Clark describes The Operator’s Manual “as a primer ... on techniques leaders can use to achieve better results, and as a guide to deeper research.” This is because much of the content is drawn from over 200 of the IBM Center’s research reports produced by the likes of the Urban Institute’s Harry Hatry, Harvard’s Bob Behn, and the University of Maryland’s Jacques Gansler.

For those who would rather go online than thumb through the book, the IBM Center’s Presidential Transition website has an easy set of pull-down windows highlighting the eight operational tools, a two-page memo providing succinct, practical advice on the topic to department and agency heads, followed by a series of questions and answers addressing key issues. Check it out for yourself at www.businessofgovernment.org/transition2008.

44 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

Getting It Done: Advice for Government Executives

By Mark A. Abramson, Jonathan D. Breul, John M. Kamensky, and G. Martin Wagner

The insights outlined in this article focus on the environment always a bad idea as it tends to incur congressional displea- in which you work. We identify six “to dos” necessary to sure and can compromise your being confirmed at all. Better “getting it done” in Washington, D.C. Along with these six to use this time to get to know your future agency and the “to dos,” we have gathered together insights from those who issues it faces. Many agency decisions can be deferred until have been in the trenches, who have worked in this envi- you are confirmed. ronment, and have insights into how it works and what you need to get things done. You can find a more in-depth While waiting to get started “officially,” time learning more discussion of these insights in chapters 7–20 of Getting It about your future agency and its environment will be time Done: A Guide for Government Executives. Each chapter well spent. Being effective in Washington begins with under- is written by a recognized leader with firsthand experience standing how Washington works. Everyone understands the working with or being the actual stakeholder. Each author importance of politics, but it is also important to understand offers a compelling perspective rooted in experience and how the political and programmatic interact. The roles of knowledge. We have distilled their insights for this article. stakeholders, the bureaucracy, and process are critical. Wash- ington tends to have large numbers of stakeholders influencing Six ‘To Dos’ outcomes around your programs in ways that may be difficult to discern. Effective strategies are built on understanding and This section presents a straightforward to-do list to guide you leveraging the many competing interests you will find, includ- in your new leadership position. ing those that are not supportive. A good beginning is critical.

1. Before Confirmation, Be Careful Takeaways Congratulations on your appointment in the new administra- • Stay away from your future agency during the confirmation. You are taking on more than a job; as you know, it is tion process. an opportunity to have an important impact on our society • Learn who in Congress affects your agency, how they and the world. You are here to deliver on the new adminis- affect it, and their points of view. tration’s programs, but you are answering to a higher calling as well. The oath you swear upon your appointment is not to • Start to build good relations with the Hill, but don’t make the president you serve. The oath is to “support and defend commitments too soon. the Constitution of the United States.” You are part of the • Limit your endorsement of previous agency positions on administration, but you are part of something greater as well. issues until you have had time to assess them.

Unfortunately, the period of time between your nomina- • Start to get to know your agency, but avoid the briefing tion and confirmation (when you can actually start your job) book trap. will likely be a long one—perhaps several months. It is not uncommon for delays due to factors that have nothing to do 2. Learn How Things Work with either you or your agency. Frequently, a group of nomi- Your agency is a large bureaucracy with a large number of nations may get “bundled” together and require negotiations career employees and relatively few political appointees. between the White House and Congress to resolve specific Most of the programs are managed by career executives who issues that may or may not be related to your agency. will typically have been with the agency longer than you will be there. The bureaucracy is both the means by which While waiting for confirmation, you may be tempted to start you will achieve program success and a separate culture that getting engaged in the work of your agency. This is almost

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 45 Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

Myths (and Realities) About Career Civil Servants

Myth Reality

Careerists are loyal to the • Most careerists check their politics at the door and define their role in terms of previous administration. the policy process, not the administration’s political agenda. • Most careerists see their role as technical, not partisan.

Careerists don’t work hard. • Most careerists work extremely hard under tight deadlines and often stressful conditions. • Careerists are “running a marathon”; political appointees are “running a sprint.”

Careerists are mostly interested • Most careerists are motivated by a strong sense of public service, mission in job security. dedication, participation in the policy process, and intellectual challenge.

Careerists always say no to new • Most careerists are not “against” new policy ideas but are sensitive to the ideas. various implementation challenges. • Careerists’ many years of experience have conditioned them to see change in very pragmatic terms.

Careerists want their political • Most careerists want their political executives to succeed because they believe bosses to fail. in the system and because they want their agencies to succeed.

From “Getting to Know You: Rules of Engagement for Political Appointees and Career Executives” by Joseph A. Ferrara and Lynn C. Ross. In Learning the Ropes: Insights for Political Appointees, Mark A. Abramson and Paul R. Lawrence, editors (Rowman & Littlefield, 2005).

will both support your agenda and give continuity between Takeaways administrations. • Learn what your agency’s customers want. • Develop an understanding of your agency’s programs You will learn that process is king, so learn about the pro- and how they achieve the outcomes you want. cess. How you make a decision can be as important as the decision itself. There are processes to buy, to hire, to regu- • Learn what stakeholders want and how they affect your late, and to solicit advice. There are even processes to speed programs. up the process. Successfully implementing your agency • Learn how the media affect your programs. programs will depend, in part, on mastering these processes rather than letting the processes master you. • Get out of your office. • Learn the flash points and opportunities. Being successful will require the ability to maneuver among and leverage the various competing interests, while oversee- • Begin to assess your senior career staff, but defer ing a complex bureaucracy and using existing processes that judgment. can stand scrutiny. You must focus on the important few pri- • Avoid the appearance of unethical behavior. orities while keeping the less important ones from occupying all your time or, worse, blowing up into a full-fledged crisis • Learn the politics. that thwarts your agenda and tarnishes your legacy. 3. Act Quickly on What Can’t Wait To get things done, you will need to understand your customers. You will also need to understand your stakeholders, Developing an understanding of how things work will be what they want and don’t want, and how they influence out- one of your early priorities, but you will also need to take comes. You will need to understand the tools your agency some near-term actions. The fastest way to learn is ask- has available and their limitations. You will need to under- ing questions of your agency’s career staff, your agency’s stand enough about how your agency operates to be able to customers, your key stakeholders, and your fellow political use those tools effectively. appointees. Use them all.

46 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

Depending on the size of your agency, you may never meet • Make sure your early political hires are aligned with you. most of your employees, but they will be critical to your suc- • Get started. cess. One of your first acts should be to communicate with them so you can start the relationship on the right foot. You may not know everything you want to do at the beginning, 4. Develop a Vision and a Focused Agenda but you still have things to say. Give them a broad-brush You may have come to your agency to manage an ongoing picture of what you want to accomplish. Tell them you value operation that is working reasonably well following traditional their mission and you value their contribution to it. Tell them processes. You may have come to help your agency deliver that part of your approach will be to listen to them to get new programs. You may have the goal of completely trans- their insights. Convey a sense of urgency. Don’t say what forming your agency and redefining its mission. they have been doing is wrong and they need to change, but don’t promise that there won’t be changes, either. Your efforts at your agency may be an integral part of the administration’s core agenda with regular senior-level These early messages are the foundation for future communica- direction from the White House. Or, you may find that it tions which will get into specifics that may involve change or is almost completely up to you to decide what your agency overruling staff recommendations. Use memos, e-mails, videos, priorities should be. Whatever your situation, you will town meetings, blogs, or some combination of these communi- want to convey your overall vision but concentrate on a cation vehicles. Use whatever feels most comfortable for you. few key priorities. The key is conveying a positive message at the beginning. Takeaways Takeaways • Develop your vision for your agency with input from your • Start to communicate immediately with a short positive political and career staff, but make sure it is your own. message to the staff of your new agency. • Convey a sense of urgency. • Start to communicate immediately with agency customers and stakeholders as well. • Communicate the vision. • Start to build relationships with customers and stakeholders. • Harness agency plans to your new vision. • Find people in your agency who can help you master • Focus on no more than three priorities where you can processes to meet your needs. personally make a difference. • Find and fix the “ticking bombs.” • Develop a strategy for your top three priorities in consultation with both political and career staff. • Get control of key budget and key agency actions. • Make sure there is a person accountable for implementing • Make sure agency operations are running effectively. each of your priorities.

The Role of the Careerist

Careerists want to feel like they are contributing to the mission of their organizations. If political managers cut them out of processes or if their advice is rarely sought, they suffer from a sort of professional identity crisis. Such an identity crisis negatively affects their job satisfaction and motivation. Ultimately, the productivity and the effectiveness of the organization will be negatively affected, too. Careerists are the institutional memory of American public administration…. They draw the policy maps that connect the past, present, and future. They are the keepers of the institutional “lore” and can tell political appointees the stories that explain what has and hasn’t worked before. As Richard Neustadt once wrote, “What makes lore invaluable is the sad fact that no institutional sources of memory exist as substitutes, save patchily, by happenstance, at higher executive levels of American government. Lore is almost all there is. Without it, available documentation tends to be ambiguous, misleading, or perverse.”

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 47 Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

Rules of Engagement for Political Appointees

Rule Illustration Engage the career staff and listen to • Involve the career staff in agency deliberations. their advice—even if you don’t heed it. • Actively solicit their analysis and recommendations. Show the career staff that you respect • Read your careerists’ résumés. them. • Understand their skills and what they bring to the table. • Make it clear that you are the decision maker, but treat them as a partner. Spend some time learning the details. • Ask lots of questions—particularly as you enter office. • Find out why some initiatives have worked and others haven’t. • Knowing the details gives you stronger credibility within the agency and improves your chances of achieving your agenda. Have a clear and limited set of • Motivate the career staff with ambitious but achievable objectives. objectives. • Make sure the careerists know where you’re going. • Make sure you know where you’re going. Be willing to compromise and admit • Realize that sometimes you have to give a little to gain a little. mistakes. • Be strong but pragmatic. • Take responsibility for your mistakes. Don’t forget about the organization. • Pay attention to organizational stewardship. • Take on bureaucratic and administrative problems within the agency. • Make an effort to attend job fairs and new employee orientation events. • Don’t shy away from tough human resource management issues. Communicate, communicate, • Constantly communicate your goals. communicate. • Constantly give the career staff feedback about ongoing agency deliberations. • Make sure that the staff understands why decisions have been made the way they were. • Give the staff feedback on their performance.

• Make sure there is an effective governance framework for Agencies are too complicated to be managed at a distance your top three priorities. by a small cadre of political appointees developing a strategy and then directing a larger body of career staff to • Relentlessly follow up. execute against that strategy. Such an approach will run into obstacles that could have been avoided with a wider initial 5. Assemble Your Leadership Team conversation between your political staff and career staff. It Your team needs to be able to effectively develop and imple- needs to be a joint effort. ment all your agency’s programs, not just your “top three.” Your programs will cross many interests. The team will need to work Takeaways effectively with multiple stakeholders on both the program- • Leverage the senior career staff: Find whom to listen to matic and political dimensions. The team will need to address and on what. a complex external environment, a complex internal environ- • Hire senior political staff with the right political talents. ment, tight resource constraints, and cumbersome processes. • Blend political and career: Leverage their different strengths.

48 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

Differences Between Political Appointees and Career Civil Servants

Factor Political appointees Careerists

Role perception • “Determine the nation’s business” • “Do the nation’s business” • Focused on achieving policy outcomes • Focused on ensuring a fair, open, and sound decision process

Partisanship • Affiliated with a political party • Nonpartisan on the job • Serve a particular president • Serve various presidents

Professional • Often a mix of government, academic, and • Government has been their main career experience private sector

Tenure of service • Come in and go out • In for the long term • Average about two years in their positions, • Senior executives average four years in their about four years in their agency, and about positions, 19 years in their agency, and more nine years of government service than 25 years of government service

Time perspective • Tend to have a shorter-term outlook • Tend to have a longer-term outlook

• Recognize that political appointees and careerists have Third, you must constantly be aware of all your stakeholders different roles and responsibilities. and proactively manage your environment.

• Be careful how you blend the political and career jobs. Takeaways • Keep political-appointees-only meetings rare and reserve • Manage the politics. them for political matters. • Manage the stakeholder relationships, but save your per- • Put it all together, decide whom to depend on and sonal time for the most important ones. for what. • Meet regularly with your senior political/career manage- • Don’t reorganize your agency. ment team on agency programs. • Don’t take too long to fill important jobs or let key 6. Manage Your Environment decisions slip. First, pace yourself. You can’t do it all in the first 100 days. • Don’t manage your agency’s operations on a day-to-day Your agency needs leadership more than it needs you to basis, but make sure someone with the right skills is doing work long hours. You will find that your biggest impact it for you. will come about through your ability to maintain a focus on your vision for your agency and on your stakeholders, • Empower your team, stay current with what they are to keep your agency focused on your top three priorities, doing, and focus on the big picture. and to manage crises that are sure to come up during • Maintain a results-oriented climate and a sense of urgency. your tenure. • Reward innovation, collaboration, and success. Second, your vision needs constant repetition. The relation- • Make sure your mission-support executives are focused on ship with key stakeholders needs to be maintained so there program results, not their fiefdoms. is a good foundation for resolving the inevitable issues. You cannot allow the many urgent crises to push your program • Keep the discussion on measurable results. priorities to the back burner. You need to keep crises from • Manage the crises. Plan for unpleasant surprises, act taking all of your time and the agency’s. quickly when they happen.

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• Take steps to minimize leaks, but expect them to administration policies and decides on how much funding happen anyway. your agency can request from Congress. In addition, OMB will be involved in many other aspects of your position, such • Manage yourself. Don’t let your calendar manage you. as reviewing proposed legislation or your testimony before • Find people who will tell you the truth. Listen to them. Congress, as well as overseeing regulations you might pro- pose. As in all organizations, working with your bosses is • Embed your legacy in the career bureaucracy, not your essential to your success in government. political subordinates. • Maintain a sense of proportion. Your Colleagues While you will constantly be working “upward” with your • Do the job, don’t be the position. bosses, you might not be as aware of the importance of • Don’t burn your bridges. working “sideways” with your colleagues. In government, the importance of your colleagues cannot be underesti- Stakeholder Groups mated. There are likely to be few instances in which you and your agency can make a decision solely by yourselves This section highlights the 14 stakeholder groups you will (even after consultation with your bosses). More common most frequently encounter while in government. We grouped is the scenario in which your bosses will actively seek the these stakeholders into four clusters: your bosses, your col- opinion and concurrence of your colleagues in other agen- leagues, your constituencies, and your overseers. cies across government.

While some groups might appear in two categories (Congress Regarding interagency collaborators, we recommend that is your boss and oversees your organization), this framework you set the right tone in creating the expectation that your is useful to understanding your relationship with each one. management team will work closely with other departments and agencies. You should participate actively on interagency Your ‘Bosses’ councils that invite you to become a member. You must, It is often said that one of the major differences between the however, assume a different role in your participation on public and private sectors is that you have many bosses in interagency councils. Instead of being the “boss” of your government. While the assertion that you have 535 bosses in organization, you become a peer and colleague working on Congress might be slightly overstated, there is much truth to government-wide issues. it. In Washington, any one of the 535 members of Congress (or any of their 29,400 staff) can make your life easier by While it has an oversight function, we have placed the supporting your agency—or more difficult by providing your Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in the colleague agency with a directive or a new piece of legislation placing grouping. We recommend that you reach out to OPM to restrictions or limitations on what your agency can do. help you and your agency seek human capital flexibilities that can assist you in better accomplishing your agency’s Closer to home, however, are three distinct parts of the mission. While OPM provides specific services to your White House on which your job literally depends. First, there agency, you can also work with them as colleagues to is the White House itself. While you will see the president achieve your mission. infrequently, you will often encounter a variety of special assistants to the president, each of whom works in a differ- Your Constituencies ent White House office. They can be enormously helpful Each agency will have its own unique set of constituen- and supportive to you once you develop a good working cies. In the Six ‘To Dos,’ we note that different constituency relationship with them. Second, we focus on the four White groups cluster around your agency. We have not attempted House Policy Councils (the National Security Council, the to “map” the specific groups that will have an interest in National Economic Council, the Domestic Policy Council, your particular agency. Your staff will be able to describe and the Homeland Security Council). These councils have these groups to you, and you will soon be meeting with become increasingly important in recent years as the White them to get acquainted and to begin building effective House has assumed a greater leadership and coordinative partnership relationships. role in new policy initiatives. Instead, we have focused on a crosscutting set of constituen- Last, but by no means least, is the Office of Management cies. First, there are the citizens. You will interact with citizens and Budget (OMB), which coordinates the development of

50 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

Fourteen Stakeholders for Getting It Done

Your Bosses • White House • White House Policy Councils • Office of Management and Budget • Congress

Your Colleagues Your Constituencies • Interagency • Citizens Collaborators • Unions • Interagency Councils • State and Local • Office of Personnel Governments Management • Interest Groups and Associations

Your OVERSEERS • Government Accountability Office • Inspectors General • Media

in two ways. First, some citizens will be your customers, and government to develop more effective working relationships we recommend that you meet with customers to assess their with state and local governments. Federal spending will satisfaction with your agency and whether the delivery of become much tighter in the next four years. As a conse- services to them can be improved. Second, citizens are in fact quence, government leaders will need to find new ways to the ultimate “bosses” of government and indeed have major accomplish national objectives through partnerships with stakes in the policies and programs of government. Regarding states, localities, and nonprofit organizations. citizens, we recommend that you use the latest approaches (including technology) to engage citizens on new policies or Finally, there are the traditional interest groups and associa- programs you are considering. tions. As noted above, you will quickly get to know the organizations interested in your agency. We stress the importance Turning to the internal side of your organization, we discuss of interest groups and associations as a valuable information the importance of unions as a constituency. If your agency is resource for you. There will clearly be differences of opinions represented by one or more unions, develop a collaborative between you and these groups, but the key to a successful working relationship with them. In The Operator’s Manual relationship will not be agreement on all issues, but instead for the New Administration, we discuss the importance of your ability to create an ongoing dialogue with them and to working closely with all your employees, with specific atten- maintain a constant exchange of information between you tion to union representatives. and the organizations.

While government executives are becoming increasingly Your Overseers attuned to the importance of collaborating with other fed- In addition to looking upward to your bosses and sideways eral agencies, the next major challenge is for the federal to your colleagues and constituencies, you will also need to

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“look over your shoulder” at your overseers. Oversight orga- A Final Word nizations are a fact of life in government. With the spending of public funds, ongoing scrutiny of those expenses will Simply put, Washington is a tough town. Succeeding in become a daily part of your life. While it is all too easy to Washington requires not only hard work (which is clearly fall into an adversarial relationship with your overseers, you needed), but also a highly sensitive antenna about the envi- should work hard to develop an effective working relation- ronment surrounding your agency. We have not attempted ship with them. to “rank order” the stakeholders. Instead, we have provided groupings as way for you to organize your approach to each The most well-known oversight, or watchdog, organization of the stakeholders. is the Government Accountability Office (GAO), previously known as the General Accounting Office. We emphasize Unlike baseball, where you don’t have to get a hit every using GAO as a valuable information resource. While your time at bat to be a success, government actually does require staff, including your GAO liaison, will be busy working with you to bat 1.000. You must succeed with all 14 of the stake- GAO on specific GAO reviews under way in your agency, holder groups. Any one of them can cause problems for you. you can use information contained in prior and ongoing Conversely, every one of them can serve as a key leverage GAO studies to identify problem areas that Congress is likely point for you to succeed in Washington. Assisting you in to ask you about and areas that your agency will need to effectively using these levers is our goal. work on.

The second watchdog organization you will encounter is To Learn More the independent Office of the Inspector General in your department or agency. Past relationships between IGs and Getting It Done: A Guide for Government Executives agency heads have ranged from outright hostility to a coop- edited by Mark A. Abramson, Getting It Done: erative partnership relationship. Like GAO, IGs can identify Jonathan D. Breul, John M. A Guide for problem areas that your agency needs to focus on. Kamensky, and G. Martin Wagner Government Executives

Edited by Mark A. Abramson Third, you will encounter the media. The Washington media The book is available at Jonathan D. Breul bookstores, online booksellers, John M. Kamensky are unique. You will have an able press staff to assist you G. Martin Wagner in both your proactive and reactive relationships with the and from the publisher at www.rowmanlittlefield.com, media. Like all the stakeholders discussed here, the media or by calling (800) 462-6420. can assist you greatly in getting your message out and communicating your vision to those both inside and outside of To find out more about the RoWMAn & LittLEfiELD puBLishERs, inc. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Oxford government. As with all the stakeholders discussed, time presidential transition and spent with the media will be a good investment. how the IBM Center for The Business of Government is dedicated to improving public management, visit www.businessofgovernment.org/transition2008/.

Acknowledgments The chapter authors of Getting It Done: A Guide for Government Executives have been an invaluable source of insight for this article. We would like to thank them and acknowledge their efforts in providing future leaders the value of their collective insights:

John J. Callahan (Congress) Thurgood Marshall, Jr. (White House) Judy England-Joseph (GAO) Bernard H. Martin (OMB) D. Cameron Findlay (Interagency Councils) Robert J. O’Neill (State and Local Governments) David F. Garrison (Interagency Collaborators) Stan Soloway (Interest Groups and Associations) Gaston L. Gianni (Inspectors General) Solly Thomas (OPM) Lawrence J. Haas (Media) Robert M. Tobias (Unions) Elizabeth K. Kellar (State and Local Governments) G. Martin Wagner (Six ‘To Dos’) Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer (Citizens) Paul Weinstein, Jr. (White House Policy Councils)

52 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

Eight Essential Tools for Achieving Your Goals: Insights for the New Administration

By Mark A. Abramson, Jonathan D. Breul, John M. Kamensky, and G. Martin Wagner

The insights presented in this article are drawn from Mark A. Abramson, Jonathan D. Breul, John M. Kamensky, Eight Essential Tools for Achieving Your Goals and G. Martin Wagner, The Operator’s Manual for the New Administration (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008).

The advice offered in this article, and drawn from The Operator’s Manual, is written for newly appointed agency heads—those who lead departments, bureaus, or programs— and their senior management teams, consisting of both political and career executives. It is these teams, augmented by an experienced career staff, that must navigate the seemingly endless rules and procedures of government.

We are presenting insights into how government works and, more important from the standpoint of executives, how to make it work to advance policy goals and objectives. We offer, in brief and simple terms, descriptions of the most important tools and levers that executives can use to advance agency goals and the president’s agenda. Mastering these important tools will help executives accomplish their objectives. It will help them better understand the terrain of government, become familiar with the terms and lingo used inside agencies, and know how to effectively use the tools of government.

Like an automobile, the machinery of government exists to fulfill a purpose beyond itself. In the case of government, it is to implement public policy and programs. The This article provides key information on eight important machinery of government is a set of systems by which tools—leadership, performance, people, money, contracting, action is undertaken and results are obtained. The parts technology, innovation, and collaboration—for operating in in a machine move and mesh, and can be replaced or government today. We selected these tools after extensive improved. Government executives need to have a basic discussions to assess the essential background information understanding of these systems. However, today’s fed- that government executives need to know. By understanding eral government operates quite differently from the past. these tools, government executives can use each one effec- Executives now need an effective set of tools to manage tively to accomplish their agency’s goals and objectives. successfully in the 21st century. The insights adapted for this article are aimed at helping executives understand 1. Leadership the tools and know how to leverage them to achieve Your leadership can make all the difference in determining their goals. It is also geared to introducing executives to whether you accomplish your goals and objectives. Effective new tools, such as collaboration, which we think will be leaders first gain an understanding of the context of their increasingly used in the years ahead.

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Key Questions for Newly Appointed Agency Heads appointees and civil servants in your own organization. On Leadership On Contracting What can you learn about leadership and What are alternative sourcing strategies? Articulate a strategy for moving transformation from the successes of What is performance-based contracting? previous government leaders? (See the IBM What has been the experience of other public forward. Everybody will be looking to Center book: Transforming Organizations.) sector organizations in using it? you for how to act on the organization’s How do you develop future leaders? What is the procurement partnership model? How does it differ from the traditional mission and vision. A clear strategy procurement model? provides a map of how you and your On Performance What are public-private partnerships? Should leadership team get to where you How do you get started on improving you consider them for your organization? performance in your organization? want to go, given constraints within What are the steps you need to take your operating environment and the to ensure successful implementation On Technology of performance management in your What questions should you ask at the start resources available. organization? of an IT project? How can you use programs such as How do you monitor ongoing IT projects? CompStat and CitiStat in your organization? What do you need to do to address security Engage employees. Employees have What is Lean Six Sigma and how should you and privacy concerns? much to offer the organization via their use it? How can shared services help you achieve your mission? ideas, including innovations, to improve the performance of the agency’s pro- On People grams and activities. You will be able What is workforce planning and should you On Innovation pay attention to it? Why innovate? to learn much about your agency by What is paybanding? How will it help your Are there specific actions you can take going out and listening and engaging organization and how do you go about it? to increase the chances of successful What is pay for performance and should you innovation? with people, especially those on the consider it for your organization? What can be learned from successful front lines. Does government have unions and do you innovations? need to spend time on labor relations in your What is collaborative innovation and can you organization? use this approach in your agency? Put customers first. Your agency serves the public. Get out and talk with your On Money On Collaboration agency’s customers. Ensure all custom- Is there a way to inject performance How will you benefit from a collaborative ers have a voice and that every voice information into the budget process? partnership? Your agency, like many other government What has been learned about successful is heard. agencies, is going to have to control its collaboration between organizations to spending more tightly over the next several accomplish large inter-organizational years. How might you better control costs? outcomes? Involve key stakeholders. In a similar How do you create a “cost management” What are the different ways in which you approach to engaging employees, you culture? can engage citizens? must launch an active outreach program to meet with the stakeholders of your organization—interest groups, congressional staff members, and partners (such organization. Understanding the context of your organization as nonprofit and private sector companies) with whom your includes knowing your mission, stakeholders, constraints, organization collaborates. Include both your advocates and and the political environment facing you. adversaries. The more time spent on outreach will make your job easier. Use different leadership styles. There is no single leadership style on which to rely. You should adjust your own leader- Seize the moment. The simple fact about serving as a politi- ship style to the specific situation and environment confront- cal appointee is that you do not know from the outset how ing your organization. You might also find that your style long you will have the opportunity to serve. Thus, an essen- will need to change as the organization evolves and your tial lesson from leaders is that you must “seize the moment” external environment changes due to either an anticipated and take full advantage of the environment now surrounding or unanticipated chain of events. your organization.

Define and focus on your goals and objectives. In other Communicate, communicate, and communicate. Leaders words, you must define and then tell people what you want emphasize the importance of placing a high priority on com- to get accomplished. A key to successfully accomplish- munication from day one of their tenure. As in advertising, ing your goals and objectives will be clearly communicat- repetition is crucial to getting your message out. ing them to a variety of audiences, including both political

54 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

goals and measures. Over the next year, you may need to On Leadership: revise the strategic plan to link to the president’s priorities.

“A key to successfully accomplishing your goals and Implement Your Performance Framework objectives will be clearly communicating them to a Harvard University Professor Bob Behn describes three com- variety of audiences, including both political appoin- ponents of performance management that you should put in tees and civil servants in your own organization.” place to ratchet up your organization’s performance:

• Create or enhance the performance framework: What would it mean to do a better job? Create alignment. A key element of leadership is “putting it • Drive performance improvement: How can you mobilize all together.” The accomplishment of your goals and objec- your people? tives will depend on your ability to align the people in your organization around effective business practices, technology, • Learn to enhance performance: How will your organiza- and organizational structure. tion change to do better?

Expect the unexpected. You will need to be resilient in your You should: capacity to overcome obstacles and unexpected problems as they arise. • Clarify and articulate your organization’s mission. A key to your success will be ensuring that you “get the mission “Stick with it.” None of the above will be easy. You are right” and then articulate it. likely to face opposition that may disagree with your goals • Identify your organization’s most consequential perfor- and objectives. You must plan for the long term and persevere mance deficit. Your task here is to “determine what key fail- in your quest for the transformation of your organization. ure is keeping the organization from achieving its mission.” • Establish a specific performance target. This involves 2. Performance specifying what new level of success you desire for your One of the many myths about government that you have organization. probably encountered is that “government doesn’t have a bottom line.” By this, folks usually mean that government • Clarify the link between target and mission. This involves doesn’t make a profit. clearly articulating how meeting the performance targets you establish will help your organization accomplish its You do have a bottom line and will have to manage to it. mission. However, your bottom line is different; it’s the results of your organization. Former government executive Chris Wye Use Performance Information writes, “Political leaders are triply vested—as American After your performance framework is in place and you are citizens, appointed public servants, and members of an comfortable with the information your organization is pro- incumbent political party—with bottom line responsibility ducing, you will find that you can use performance infor- for the performance of the policies, programs, and activities mation in many ways. entrusted to their care.” There is an old saying that “if you don’t know where you Assess Your Performance Framework are going, you will never get there.” This is truly the case of Much of your first year in office should be devoted to under- managing in government. If you do not have a performance standing the performance framework of your organization framework (which includes your goals and objectives) in so that you can track progress on your organization’s perfor- place, you will not be able to track where you are heading mance and results. You won’t be starting from scratch. Your and agency progress toward achievement of your goals. job is now to make sure that the information currently being collected by your organization is useful to you in both your 3. People decision-making capacity and performance manager role. Achieving your goals will depend on the hundreds, if not thousands, of people in your organization. While it has Each federal agency is required to develop both multi-year become a cliché to say that an organization’s most valu- strategic and annual performance plans that include agency able resource is its people, the statement is true.

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manage your employees. Agencies currently have a On Performance: number of hiring strategies under way including the use of hiring flexibilities such as recruitment, retention, and “You do have a bottom line and will have to manage to relocation bonuses; re-employed annuitants; student hiring it. However, your bottom line is different; it’s the results programs; and direct hire authority. You should aggres- of your organization.” sively use these hiring flexibilities. Your chief human capital officer will be able to brief you on current strategies, as well as how well these strategies are working. • Managing for better performance. Your agency should As you begin to address the people dimension of your job, have a performance management system that is designed you will be working in two distinct time frames: the near term, to link employee performance plans with the agency stra- meaning your first six months or so, and the longer term. tegic plan. A pay-for-performance system could serve as Focus on Near-Term Activities an effective complement to your initiatives to drive performance and accountability. You have an important job to do and you need to get action quickly on the president’s agenda. To succeed, you will need to rely on the career civil service to help you Develop Effective Relationships You will need to create an effective working relationship accomplish your goals. with a variety of different groups, including individuals inside Your near-term people agenda will be to assess the “state” and outside your own organization. It is crucial that you of the career service in your organization by asking two develop a good working relationship with your own employ- crucial questions: ees. Your chief human capital officer (CHCO) should be able to tell you how many unions and union members are in your • Do you have people with the right skills in place within organization, as well as the extent of their influence and the your organization to get the job done? “state” of labor relations in your organization. You will also need to work closely with key government staff outside of • What do your organization’s annual employee surveys tell your own organization. you about your organization? Are your employees engaged in their work? Is there trust and confidence between your 4. Money employees and their supervisors? In the federal government, the budget process is not simply a bean-counting game. The budget process shapes policy— The answers provided to the first question should reflect the and it inevitably reduces all decisions down to a dollar status of your organization’s workforce. If the answers are denomination. The process, including upfront strategic not to your satisfaction, there are many immediate steps you and long-range planning and performance targets, is can take to remedy this situation. Your answers to the sec- where policy and strategic decisions are made in the federal ond question are something you can act upon immediately. government. Having your employees committed and engaged in the work of your organization is critical to your success as a leader. Obtain Resources in a Challenging Environment Resources will be scarce, and the way in which they are Invest in Long-Term Initiatives allocated and used is crucial to you and your organiza- You can then turn to more complex people issues that typi- tion’s overall effectiveness. A solid financial strategy can no cally face every agency. These are crucial to the longer-term longer be an afterthought, if at all. Understanding costs and effectiveness of your organization and its ability to sustain measuring program performance are critical to effective deci- the president’s agenda. sion making and need to be part of the policy and program development process. One of the secrets that only the initi- • Managing workforce planning. Given the anticipated ated know is that budget numbers are the keys to the doors retirement of many “baby boomers” during your tenure, of everything. you will have the unique opportunity to reshape the skill mix of your organization to better fit its mission and strat- Manage the Resources You Receive egy for the next decade. Managing money in government is serious business. Man- • Managing talent strategically. You will need to develop aging resources means more than simply keeping the books and implement strategies to recruit, retain, develop, and straight and helping to ensure that funds are not misspent.

56 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

Resources need to be invested and deployed strategically based on reliable, timely, high-quality information that helps On Money: policy makers and program officials make difficult choices in a highly complex environment. While legislation has “Resources need to be invested and deployed strategi- been put into place to strengthen the role of the federal chief cally based on reliable, timely, high-quality information financial officer (CFO), there is a lack of clarity for federal that helps policy makers and program officials make CFO roles and responsibilities. difficult choices in a highly complex environment.”

Show Results from What You Spend You and your organization will be under increasing pressure to produce—and to demonstrate—results in terms of Align Contracting with the Appropriate Number of your goals and mission. Integrating performance and results Government Staff with decision making for budget resources has long been a At the same time that government contracts have gotten goal of the U.S. federal government. During the past decade, more complex and the number of contracts and contractors Congress and the executive branch have increased their has grown, the number of government employees to man- emphasis on improving management across all departments age contractors has decreased. The government now spends and agencies. less to manage its contracts (on a percentage basis) than at any point in history. In some cases, this has created poor George Washington University’s Philip G. Joyce writes, contract oversight, which has resulted in ineffective and “The federal government has never been in a better position costly contracts. to make its budget decisions more informed by considerations of performance.” A focus on results and outcomes There are specific actions that you can take to strengthen the can help enhance government’s capacity to assess competing acquisition cadre in your organization: claims for budgetary resources by arming decision makers with better information both on the results of individual pro- • Establish sound career ladders for acquisition professionals. grams as well as on entire portfolios of policies and programs addressing common goals. • Get direct hire authority for your agency so it can recruit and acquire staff in a timely fashion. 5. Contracting • Put in place intern, mentoring, and coaching programs. Government today depends more on contractors than at any time in its history. This increase stems from several • Design recruiting programs to bring in mid-career acquisi- factors: limits on the number of government employees, tion specialists from outside of government. a difficult process to hire government workers, and the • Offer joint program and contracting staff training programs need for government to frequently ramp up quickly to to promote a collaborative working environment. solve immediate problems. Given this history, you will likely find that your agency now has a large contingent • Establish effective succession planning to respond to of contractors working to support your agency’s opera- impending retirements. tions and mission. As a consequence, you will face a series of challenges. Align Contracting with Industry Best Practices There is little doubt that government will continue to contract Align Contracting Practices with Your Agency many activities in the future and will continue to work closely Goals and Objectives with contractors and their staffs. Because of this, you must Your first step should be to take a strategic look at contract- align your contracting activities with industry best practices. ing and align your agency’s use of contracting and contrac- The work of government contractors has substantially changed tors to support your agency’s goals and objectives. in recent years, as well as the relationship between government and contractors. These changes are, in part, responsible As part of your strategic assessment of your organization, for some of the recent challenges. Government and contractors you will have to work to align roles and responsibilities are moving into new terrain, and both will need to learn how for both your government employees and your government to deal with changing expectations and new relationships. contractors. In recent years, three major shifts have occurred in the government contracting arena. Shifts one and two are clearly

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related. The “buying” of services (shift one) will require a new partnership relationship (shift two). Shift three reflects On Technology: technology as an enabler to provide faster, more cost- effective services. “IT can be a tool to change the way your agency does business, to redesign work processes, and to eliminate Align Your Expectations with Contracting Realities inefficient ways of working.” Finally, it will be crucial for you to align your expectations in this area. Contracting presents special challenges. Specifically, challenges include: The technology agenda linked to your mission is not faster • Dealing with a cumbersome, process-bound system. processors, more bandwidth, or infrastructure. For legitimate reasons, there are no “shortcuts” in the world of contracting. You will have to be patient and Technology can be the enabler of new ways of doing busi- rely heavily on the advice of your contracting experts. ness or can be used to make your existing business model Their job will be to keep your agency procurements more effective or efficient. Your vision can embrace either or moving along while in full compliance with the rules both. Look to similar organizations for lessons on how best of the system. to pursue this strategy. • Dealing in a highly contentious area. Over the past Get a handle on your ongoing IT projects before there is a decade, the pendulum has continued to swing back and crisis. Large IT projects often fail. In the federal government forth from flexibility-driven to rule-tightening contracting they fail publicly. It is important for you to get a handle on reforms. You can expect the pendulum to continue to these projects early in your tenure. You should consider swing; in recent years, it has been moving toward rule- bringing in outside experts to do a quick independent review tightening reforms. of the projects and give you a sense of the risks the projects face. You should act on their recommendations. 6. Technology While you may not have come to Washington to manage You should also ensure that your chief information officer information technology (IT), you should pay attention to it for (CIO) has a process for reviewing progress on an ongoing two reasons. First, if you leverage IT effectively, it will help basis. You should request that projects provide incremental you achieve your goals. Second, if IT is managed poorly in deliverables every few months. Have a contingency plan. your agency, it has the potential to thwart your agenda, tar- nish your legacy, become a major distraction, and take up a Make sure you have a capable, qualified, and effective chief large amount of your time and energy. information officer. An effective CIO will be critical to your success and must be able to deal effectively with both tech- While IT is an area which is subject to hype, over-promises, nology and the agency mission it supports. Your CIO must and significant risks, it also has great potential. You have have strong program, technical, management, and people more flexibility with technology than in changing the skills, and will be the person who translates mission needs amount of funds your agency now has. IT can be a tool to into technology solutions. change the way your agency does business, to redesign work processes, and to eliminate inefficient ways of work- Empower your CIO but have a process for reconciling IT ing. Technology also increases economies of scale. and other imperatives. Making programs work depends on combining money, people, technology, and contracts. The There are five elements to successfully managing information CIO must have the power to enforce technology decisions. technology in your organization: You also will need to ensure that you have a process that rec- onciles the interests of key players in your department, such Begin with your policy and program objectives. Begin with as your chief financial officer, and have mechanisms for bal- what you want to accomplish. Then, and only then, bring in ancing the very real issues that will arise. Expect conflict, but the technology experts to assess how technology can help ensure there is a process for resolving it. you reach those goals. Get them to frame the technology agenda in terms of the mission to be achieved or the cus- Make sure security and privacy concerns are a priority for tomers to be served. The technology agenda might include program managers. It is a near certainty that during your better service delivery, lower costs, or more transparency. tenure, your agency will lose a laptop full of sensitive

58 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

information, have a security breach that affects service engaged is key. You can do this by creating an atmosphere delivery, or have some other public crisis involving security. that encourages individuals to be entrepreneurial in propos- ing and advocating for innovations. Make sure that your senior managers take security and privacy seriously as an operational matter. Your program Second, the success of most innovations involves effective managers should be regularly testing security and using the collaborative approaches. Recognizing that this is both results to improve it. In short, security should be viewed as an opportunity and a challenge is important when part of your program management responsibilities. endorsing efforts to pilot or implement innovative products or services. 7. Innovation Innovation is a hot topic. While not usually viewed as a Foster Management Innovation tool, innovation can assist you in improving performance In The Future of Management, Gary Hamel sets forth a three- and achieving your goals. Many organizations in the public, prong approach to fostering management innovation in your nonprofit, and private sectors are devoting much time and organization: effort to developing new approaches to innovation. Your challenge is to foster the right mix of the four types of inno- • Challenge long-standing management “orthodoxies” in vation in your organization. the organization. In short, Hamel recommends that you should go to “war” with precedent. Foster Business Model Innovation • Develop new principles that will encourage new You should challenge your management team to exam- approaches which will “reinvent” the “management ine your current agency-wide business models. Your team genome” in your organizations. Hamel recommends that should ask themselves: (1) Are we sufficiently challenging you bring together your management team to examine the way our agency conducts its business? and (2) How can specific processes within your organization to ask ques- we better measure and manage our agency’s performance in tions such as: achieving objectives? –– Who “owns” this process and who has the power Changing a business model in government will not be easy. to change it? Business model innovation frequently creates anxiety and fear within agencies. It is thus crucial that you target your –– Who are the “customers” of this process? business model changes wisely, communicate effectively, implement the changes quickly, and make adjustments as • Find insights from what Hamel calls “positive deviants”— necessary over time. those individuals or organizations with management practices that are eccentric yet effective. Foster Operations Innovation For the development of innovations in business operations, Be Engaged you will need to create “safe spaces” for mid-level manage- Innovation does not happen in isolation to all of your other ment entrepreneurs to pilot new ways of doing business. activities and initiatives. Innovation can become a key ingre- dient on actions related to all the tools discussed in this For the implementation of innovations in operations, you article. The test of the success of innovation in your agency will need to champion things that work and expand them will be whether it has contributed to improving performance beyond the pilot phase. For example, as the pilots begin to and achieving your goals. demonstrate promise, you should export them to other parts of agencies and begin to share them as best or promising 8. Collaboration practices so that they can be developed in other parts of Fostering collaboration will be a key component of your job. government. The need for improved and enhanced collaboration within and between agencies in the federal government, with state Foster Products/Services Innovation and local governments, as well as with nonprofits and busi- To foster innovation in products and services delivered by nesses, is now clearly needed. your organization, there is much that you can do. First, recognize that employees often are the source of innovative Collaboration occurs when people from different organi- services that can benefit your customers. Getting them zations produce something together through joint effort,

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 59 Forum: Helping the Next Administration Succeed in Washington

resources, and decision making, and share ownership of the than the traditional “stovepipe” approach to individual fed- final product or service. The focus is often on producing or eral programs. We recommend their increased use. implementing something. Build New Management Skills Collaborate to Solve National Problems As the use of collaboration increases, you and your manage- Why is collaboration rising in importance? In short, the fed- ment team will be challenged in new ways because you and eral government’s role in responding to national problems is your team will have to behave far differently than in the past. dramatically evolving. One part of this shift is a change from the traditional bureaucratic approach focused on individual programs run by sepa- The traditional model of government agencies administering rate agencies to an approach that places increased emphasis hundreds of programs by themselves is giving way to one- on services and results. The new model implies organizing stop services and cross-agency results. This transition implies around customers and outcomes, not the traditional agency collaboration—within agencies, among agencies, between and programs. levels of government, and between the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. As networks and partnerships take on A Final Word many new shapes, organizations are shifting their focus from “within” to “between.” We do not rank the eight tools in order of importance. Government executives have to pay attention to and work Use Networks with all of them. None can be ignored. Each tool comple- Because of their informal nature, networks tend to be time- ments the others. The challenge facing executives is to bring consuming to develop and fragile to maintain. The decision into line all of these tools to achieve their mission. on whether to use this approach depends on an initial assess- We hope that these insights will be helpful to both new ment of whether the right dynamics exist and whether they executives coming to Washington in 2009 and experienced reflect the characteristics of a successful network. Successful executives who are seeking additional insights into managing networks share five characteristics: shared vision and trust, the operations of government. independent members, voluntary links, multiple leaders, and clearly defined roles.

Public AdministrAtion • mAnAgement Kamensky• Wagner T“…o this volume L drawsearn on research that has documented M successes.ore Reformation of the Federal Abramson• Breul While the reliance on networks and partnerships is increas- Emergency Management Agency in the 1990s, the advances in medical care made by the Veterans Health Administration, the fascinating public-private network created by the Bureau of Primary Health Care to extend its reach, the recasting of the Internal Revenue Service as guardian of the taxpayer, NASA’s recovery from the shuttle Columbia’s tragic loss, and the creation of the Human Genome Project are among the cases providing grist for the research.” ing, there are still many challenges in effectively using these The Operator’s Manualtimothy B. clark for editor in chief, Government Executive Washington, D.c. new tools. For example, as networks and partnerships grow, the New Administration

About the Authors how do you fund them? As agency lines blur, who gets the by MarkMark A. Abramson is p residentA. of Leadership, Abramson, inc. TheOperator’s Manual for the New Administration Jonathan D. Breul is executive Director of the iBM center for the Business of Government The Operator’s Manual and a partner with iBM Global Business services. JonathanJohn M. Kamensky is a seniorD. fellow atBreul, the iBM center for the Business John of Government M. for the New Administration credit, or when things go wrong, who is held accountable and an Associate partner with iBM Global Business services. G. Martin Wagner is a senior fellow at the iBM center for the Business of Government Kamensky,and an Associate partner with iBM Globaland Business services. G. Martin and for what? Mark A. Abramson Jonathan D. Breul Wagner John M. Kamensky G. Martin Wagner

About the IBM Center for The Business of Government

the iBM center for the Business of Government connects public management research with practice. Use Partnerships since 1998, we have helped public sector executives improve the effectiveness of government with practical ideas and original thinking. We sponsor independent research by top minds in academe and the The nonprofitbook sector, and we create opportunitiesis availablefor dialogue on a broad range of public management at topics.

the center is one of the ways that iBM seeks to advance knowledge on how to improve public sector Much like networks, there are different types of partner- bookstores,effectiveness. the iBM center focuses ononline the future of the operation and managementbooksellers, of the public sector. ships. First, a partnership tends to be more resilient when andfor orders and information from please contact the publisher the publisher at Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of Rowman& Littlefield the Rowman & Littlefield publishing Group, inc. 4501 forbes Boulevard, suite 200 Lanham, Maryland 20706 RoWMAn & LittLefieLD puBLisheRs, inc. 1-800-462-6420 www.rowmanlittlefield.com, Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Oxford there is a transition in leadership among its members. www.rowmanlittlefield.com Second, because partnerships involve a more formal set of or by calling (800) 462-6420. relationships, it is easier for them to leverage the resources To find out more about the presidential transition and of others. As the government moves forward in the decades how the IBM Center for The Business of Government ahead to meet challenges in many diverse arenas, collab- is dedicated to improving public management, visit orative networks and partnerships are approaches that can www.businessofgovernment.org/transition2008/. provide you with greater leverage to achieve national goals

60 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Forum:Viewpoints Title

Hubris or Wise Policy? Early Planning for a Presidential Transition

By Martha Joynt Kumar

Some may decry early presidential planning, but the reality Presidential transitions matter, and the one in 2009 matters is a president needs to take advantage of the opportunities more than most. “At a time of war, you don’t want there to be the early months provide a chief executive. In order to get an any gaps, but particularly any extended gaps in having knowl- administration up and running without delay, both candidates edgeable people [in office],” said White House Deputy Chief must be ready to do the following when one of them takes of Staff Joe Hagin. From a national security point of view, office January 20, 2009. The candidates need to be prepared and even from a financial markets perspective, continuity in to select and vet some 100 top administration officials, staff government is crucial, as transitions represent soft periods up their White House, be ready in the first week to issue a when government is changing hands. In June 2007, three days dozen executive orders reflecting their social priorities and after Prime Minister Gordon Brown took office in the United withdraw ones issued by their predecessors, have ready a Kingdom, there were terrorist attacks in Glasgow and London. speech to Congress on a major policy issue, and decide their The March 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 budget priorities. Early planning makes all of the difference to people came three days before that country’s general election. the quality of the start a president has once he takes office. With wars in Afghanistan and Iraq under way, continuity in governing is essential. Martha Joynt Kumar is a professor of political science at Towson University. She is director of the White House Because the institution of the presidency retains its contours Transition Project, a nonpartisan group of presidency schol- and relationships from one administration to the next, the ars who are developing information on the organization and rhythms of transitions do as well. That means presidential environment of the White House. Her latest book, Managing candidates can learn from their predecessors what lies ahead the President’s Message: The White House Communications during the time between the campaign and the inauguration Operation, won the 2008 Richard E. Neustadt Award for the as well as what they can do to take advantage of transition best book on the presidency. opportunities while avoiding its hazards.

Her article is adapted from “Getting Ready for Day One: 1. Consider How Campaign Commitments Taking Advantage of the Opportunities and Minimizing the Affect Governing Hazards of a Presidential Transition,” Public Administration Review, July/August 2008. Campaigns affect a president-elect’s transition into office in negative and positive ways. Some management and policy “Maybe we should have a Hubris Watch,” wrote Howard commitments limit what a president will be able to do when Kurtz, Washington Post media critic, about news that presi- in office while a clearly articulated policy agenda during the dential candidate Barack Obama had tasked a group to campaign makes it easier for a chief executive to establish begin working on presidential transition planning. “Yes, it the direction of his administration. is good to be prepared. It’s also July,” noted Kurtz during the last week in July, a month before the presidential nomi- Avoid limiting future commitments. When he entered office, nating conventions. Rather than being a matter of hubris, President Clinton issued an executive order that tightened transition planning is a necessity and usually begins months the rules on contacts between lobbyists and the executive before the presidential nominating conventions. Two transi- branch. At the end of his administration, President Clinton tions acclaimed as effective by reporters, scholars, and offi- acceded to criticism and revoked the order. Such bans can cials are those of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, both make it difficult to recruit people who might want to work of whom began their transition planning a year before they with government from the outside after they complete their took office. service with an administration.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 61 Viewpoints

Martha Joynt Kumar is Professor of Political Science at Towson University and Director of the White House Transition Project. Her e-mail: [email protected].

Make the campaign agenda a governing agenda. While directed that his information-gathering operation “ought to campaign commitments can limit the options a president- be separate from the effort required to get elected.” There elect has at the point when the incoming chief executive was no competition between the two operations—a problem is organizing the administration, they can also serve as the that plagued many earlier transition efforts—because they center of his governing agenda. One of the reasons President coordinated with each other. Bush had a smooth start to his administration after the con- tested election and a shortened transition is because the Identify government transition resources and supporting candidate and his team saw their campaign agenda as their agencies. The Presidential Transition Act of 1963, its updates, governing one. Clay Johnson, executive director of the Bush and the current budget establish government funding levels transition and subsequently White House personnel director, and resources for the 2008 presidential candidates. President said of Bush: “He said our priorities will be what we cam- Bush’s fiscal year 2009 budget calls for an appropriation paigned on. We want education, we want a strong national of $8.52 million for the General Services Administration, defense…. We said they were our priorities and they are.” which administers the transition funds, with $5.3 million reserved for the incoming administration and $2.2 mil- 2. Establish an Information-Gathering lion for the Bush administration’s transition out of office. Operation Prior to the Convention The budget request includes $1 million for the personnel orientation called for in the 2000 update of the Presidential There are four periods to a presidential transition, and presi- Transition Act. Though the government provides public dential candidates ought to begin gathering information in funds, recent presidents-elect have raised almost equal the first one. The stages are: (1) prior to the national party amounts of private monies. nominating conventions, (2) between the conventions and the November election, (3) from the presidential election Once there is a president-elect, the transition takes on a formal to the inauguration, and (4) the first 100 days of the new shape with office space in Washington, funds available for administration. staff, training, computers, telephone, and travel, as well as monies for the outgoing president. Even before the election, Appoint a transition aide who maintains regular contact though, transition officials can informally talk with officials with campaign officials. Except for Presidents Kennedy, at the agencies to discover what resources will be available Nixon, and Clinton, four of the seven presidents elected should their candidate win the presidency and what informa- to a full term from John Kennedy forward have designated tion requirements presidential appointees will have to meet. a person or group to work on transition issues prior to the In addition to the support provided in transition legislation, party nominating conventions. Presidential candidates need the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 a person or a group that looks for information on person- provides that after the nominating conventions, the major nel and past transitions. This person should identify deci- party candidates can submit for security clearance the names sions that will need to be made as well as those made by of transition team members who will need access to classified the incumbent administration dealing with governing, with information as part of their transition work. attention to timing. Governor Bush told Clay Johnson in 1999: “As we focus on this campaign, I want you to figure Speak early with officials in agencies important to a good out what we do after November 7 or 8 when we win, what’s start. In addition to the General Services Administration, involved in a transition, what are we trying to accomplish, transition staff will benefit from informal talks with offi- how do we organize to get it done.” At the same time, Bush cials in the Office of Government Ethics and the National

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Archives. When presidential appointees are working not get President Bush’s appointees in office until he got rid through the appointment process, they will need to comply of the holdovers from the Reagan administration. with conflict of interest rules implemented by the Office of Government Ethics. Knowing what the rules are and where Handle the unanticipated. Incoming presidents have to deal the areas of negotiation are is important before a candi- with late policy actions taken by the incumbent chief execu- date begins considering nominations to executive branch tive. At the beginning of his administration, President Clinton positions. Records-retention policies are best set before a considered how to handle troops sent in December to Somalia president comes into office, and the National Archives can by President George H. W. Bush as part of a United Nations offer alternative ways of creating a full presidential record. force. Initially viewed as a simple plan to alleviate starvation Records issues, in particular lost e-mails, have been an caused by environmental factors, the action led to a situation important distraction for each of the last two administrations. where U.S. soldiers were attacked by the forces of local war- lords. It took the president more than a year into his admin- 3. Review the Actions of the Incumbent istration to bring the U.S. troops home, and by then 44 of Administration them had died. One of the important areas for candidates to gather informa- 4. Focus on the White House Decision- tion on is existing executive orders, proclamations, and regulations issued by the incumbent chief executive, particularly Making Process, Key Positions, and Budget in the final year of the administration. Officials Organizing the top tier of the White House is a central task Assess recent executive actions. At the end of their adminis- of the transition, as is lining up the budget operation. trations, most recent presidents have issued a flurry of executive orders, proclamations, memoranda, and regulations. In Build coalitions. To make the transition from campaigning President Clinton’s case, for example, he issued 22 executive to governing, the president needs to recruit staff appropriate orders in his final two months in office, issuing nine in the to working in shades of gray rather than the black and white last week. familiar in the election world. Roger Porter, senior economic and domestic policy advisor in the Ford, Reagan, and George In an effort to slow down the promulgation of regulations H. W. Bush administrations, described the needs of govern- at the close of the current administration, on May 9 White ing: “You have to build coalitions. You’re not in an us-them, House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten sent departments and we’ve got to defeat them, we’ve got to destroy them [mode].” agencies a memorandum stating that any proposed rules During the months between the election and his inauguration should be made public by June 1, with final rules issued as well as the early months in office, the new president needs by November 1. The purpose, he said, is to have a “prin- to become adept at reaching across the partisan divide to cipled approach to regulation as we sprint to the finish, acknowledge the need to build coalitions in order to govern. and resist the historical tendencies of administrations to increase regulatory activities in their final months.” In July, Choose White House staff and budget officials first. In however, in a move that appears to be in conflict with the order to start up his administration, the president needs deadlines set out in the Bolten memorandum, the Office of to select early his White House chief of staff, personnel Management and Budget (OMB) posted a notice for a Labor director, and counsel. Personnel staffs sift through possible Department regulation adding an additional risk assessment appointees and gather the material on each, but presidents step before issuing rules that establish tighter controls on consult their relevant policy people, chief of staff, and workplace chemicals. Labor groups and Democratic mem- counsel before making a choice. That means the major bers of Congress reacted sharply to what they considered White House staff members need to be in place shortly an administration offering to its business allies. after the election. The Clinton senior staff members were selected five days before the inauguration, which meant no Clear out political appointees. President George H. W. Bush one had time to read about their new positions or ask ques- followed a president who did not clear out the political tions of their predecessors, much less devote time to select- appointees from executive branch offices, which resulted in ing officials other than cabinet secretaries. a major early distraction for the new president and his team. Three days after assuming office, Secretary of Health and Getting budget and policy officials into place early on in the Human Services Louis Sullivan sent notice to 100 political White House and OMB is important. The budget prepared appointees that their tenure would end April 1. He could by the outgoing president goes to Congress early in February.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 63 Viewpoints

If the president-elect is to have an impact on the budget, later, with additional cost-saving measures for the federal the incoming chief executive will need to choose top bud- government. In their first days in office, his successors issued get officials and then ask the sitting president to have the memoranda and executive orders related to standards of outgoing budget team provide their figures to the new crew conduct for their administration appointees as well as their as early as possible. By the time the president submits one, policy goals. and even well after the 100-day mark, few appointees below the departmental secretary level have made it through the 6. Establish Effective Working Governmental confirmation process. With so few people in the departments and Nongovernmental Relationships in place, the policy people in the White House and those in OMB take on a special importance in the first year of an An early need is establishing good working relationships with administration. members of Congress and with the Washington community. Having staff members and others designated as part of their 5. Coordinate People and Policy Around administration work with those whose support they will need a Presidential Agenda is important. Incoming presidents have an opportunity to establish their Foster relations with the Washington community. A president agenda early in their term, but this requires that the presi- establishes good relationships with the congressional leader- dent integrate his campaign policy priorities with his ship early on, or pays dearly later when there is no support governing ones. from them or from the Washington community when he needs them to ease the way for administration people and propos- Begin with the personnel process. Appointments represent als. President Carter never had the Washington relations that a substantial opportunity for a president to move govern- are so important for a president to have among those in the ment in a desired direction or directions, but it is unrealistic governing community, with the result that he did not have a to think a chief executive can have a large percentage of bench of supporters known to the Washington community appointees selected and in place in the administration’s first who could attest to the worthiness of his actions and plans. few months in office. The universe of appointments is large, with around 1,200 presidential appointees requiring Senate Avoid unwieldy task forces. One of the ways a president can confirmation (PAS), 1,400 Schedule C positions, and another avoid dissension with existing departments and agencies is 800 noncareer Senior Executive Service posts, according to to avoid mischief-making task forces regarded as intrusive Bradley Patterson in his recent study of White House staff, by career staff and often by incoming cabinet secretaries as To Serve the President: Continuity and Innovation in the well. The Reagan administration had five groups involved in White House Staff. A president can name another approxi- 48 task force operations, each task force composed of from mately 3,000 members of boards and commissions. three to 20 people. In his study of presidential transitions, John Burke commented on the problems resulting from the Focus on a central group of appointments related to a pri- work of the groups. In the Reagan administration, cabinet ority agenda item. Few administration nominees make it secretaries Caspar Weinberger, Terrell Bell, and Alexander through the confirmation process within the first 100 days, Haig all objected to the meddling task forces. The George forcing a president to focus on a few priority ones. President W. Bush transition eschewed larger groups. Instead, the George W. Bush, for example, had 29 confirmed nominees Bush group created smaller ones governed by rules that their in that time period. Knowing so few appointees would be members not enter the governmental units they were study- in place in his first few months in office and that the admin- ing and the members did not meet as a group. istration faced a building recession, President Reagan and his staff placed priority on filling 87 positions relating to 7. Take Advantage of the Public Attention the economy, including ones in the Departments of State, and Goodwill Commerce, and Treasury. For a short while, the incoming chief executive has the State priorities. President Reagan made his priorities clear attention and goodwill of the public and the Washington minutes after he finished his inaugural address. By signing an community. administrative order to put a freeze on hiring in the federal government, the new president emphasized how serious he Capture public attention. Speeches early in a president’s was about realizing a smaller federal government. Reagan term receive public attention. President Reagan focused on followed his first memorandum with a second one two days getting the budget under control in an early address to a joint

64 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Viewpoints

session of Congress. In reviewing all of his televised addresses to the nation during his eight years in office, his February 18, 1981, budget speech had a larger audience than any of his other policy addresses. A Richard Wirthlin poll of Reagan’s major speeches found that only 18 percent of those polled had not heard or read anything about the budget speech. Reagan knew this early period of his presidency would be important for getting the attention of the public, and he took advantage of it to press for his budget cuts proposal.

Build on the atmosphere of goodwill. Most presidents come into office having made the transition from a candidate of the winning party to a president responsible for all of the country’s citizens. If they establish a good start for their administration, presidents can build on the initial goodwill that accompanies them. President Clinton won 43 percent of the popular vote, yet he came into office with a much greater reserve of public goodwill. The Gallup poll taken shortly after he took office showed 58 percent of those sampled had a favorable view of how he was handling his job. With a slow and unorganized beginning to his administration, though, he was not able to build up those numbers until the end of the year when he had a smoother operation. In contrast, with a very strong start, President Reagan improved his Gallup favorable job approval numbers from 51 percent when he entered office to 67 percent at the 100-day mark.

While an effective transition provides a good start for an administration, its beneficial effects will last only as long as the president and White House staff, as well as administration officials, are responsive to their environment. Their operation must be flexible and able to detect changes in conditions and new issues rising. Without that capacity, the benefits of a good transition will prove transitory.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 65 Viewpoints

An Apollo Project for Climate Change/Energy? History’s Lessons for Future Success

By W. Henry Lambright

During the extended presidential campaign of 2008, vari- 1. A Consensus-Building Catalyst ous candidates have called for an “Apollo Project” to cope with the linked issues of climate change and energy. The In 1957, America’s Cold War nemesis, the Soviet Union, next president will have to decide if such a project is war- shocked the United States out of its technical hubris when ranted. An Apollo Project goes beyond the tax credits, con- it placed the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, in space. In servation, cap-and-trade, carbon taxes, industrial subsidies, response, President Eisenhower and Congress established a regulation, and other measures often mentioned. These new civilian research and development agency, the National aim at stimulating change based on existing knowledge Aeronautics and Space Administration. In 1961 NASA was and technology. An Apollo Project is geared to the long reinvented and substantially enlarged after President Ken- run by creating technological capabilities that do not exist nedy challenged the nation to a race against the Soviets to today. In short, it is large-scale research and development, put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. There big science, and advanced technology, directed by govern- was then a contest between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to see ment at areas the private sector cannot or will not pursue which political system could meet a technical goal beyond on its own. Further, it is a mission conducted with a sense the capacity of either country in 1961. The catalyst for Ken- of urgency and deadlines. It is transformative, rather than nedy’s decision was the impressive Soviet feat of placing the incremental. Whether or not the next president moves in first human in space, Yuri Gagarin. the direction of accelerating technological change remains to be seen. As he considers options, he would do well to Gagarin reinforced the psychological impact of Sputnik. reflect on five factors that made Apollo the remarkable Together, they catalyzed the nation and united it behind success it was. Kennedy’s goal. Macro-policy change therefore requires major stimuli. Source: www.nasa.gov Source: usasearch.gov President John F. Kennedy addressing a joint session of Congress on May 25, (Left to right): NASA Deputy Administrator Robert Seamans, Dr. Wernher 1961, to announce an accelerated lunar landing program. von Braun, and President Kennedy at Cape Canaveral.

66 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Viewpoints

W. Henry Lambright is Professor of Public Administration and Political Science and Director of the Center for Environmental Policy and Administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. His e-mail: [email protected].

2. A Clear and Urgent Goal organization whose competence was celebrated then and now. Thus, the lesson is that a macro-policy goal requires a The goal to land a man on the moon and bring him home strong and flexible implementing agency with financial and safely within the decade was clear, unambiguous, and human resources adequate to the mission. urgent. Either the nation achieved the objective or failed. Kennedy and his successors would have to back the goal or be responsible for letting it fail. A clear goal thus con- 4. Sustained Political Will veys responsibility and accountability to both elected and Kennedy gave Apollo his full support while he lived, rank- administrative officials. Combined with a sense of urgency, ing it next to Defense in national priority. Lyndon Johnson it is also a force for uniting organizations engaged in project turned to the Great Society and then became absorbed in the implementation. Vietnam War. National priorities changed over the decade, but LBJ supported Apollo, even as he cut NASA’s overall 3. A Powerful Implementing Agency budget. The same pattern was seen in Congress, where a bipartisan majority backed Apollo throughout the decade. NASA was a powerful agency in part because of the clarity The core of legislative support came from space committees of the mission, but also because it had requisite resources in and “space states” (those states with NASA field centers, such money and personnel. Apollo cost approximately $24 billion as Texas, Florida, California, and Alabama). However, NASA in 1960s’ money. That would be approximately $150 billion had carefully nurtured a national constituency for Apollo, and in today’s dollars. NASA mobilized 400,000 scientists, engi- the Soviet Union’s continued competition bolstered this con- neers, and others at its peak. Ninety percent of NASA’s per- stituency at critical times when it might have wavered. sonnel were on contracts spread throughout the country. Not a big agency in civil service employees by federal standards, By the time Nixon became president in January 1969, NASA NASA was blessed with exceptional personnel drawn to the was months away from the moon shot. He was not about agency by its exciting mission and a sense of patriotism. to interfere with the bureaucratic-technical momentum he Apollo was a front of the Cold War. The best and brightest inherited. He basked in Apollo’s success. Then he ended the wanted to participate in a mission of historic significance. Apollo program, turning to the space shuttle in 1972. But by that time it was clear that the U.S. had won the space race NASA combined four cultures into a cohesive configura- and reestablished its technological reputation. The Soviet tion with a Washington headquarters and an array of field Union had tried to keep pace with the U.S., had failed, and centers primarily in the south and west. There was the abandoned the moon in favor of building space stations. research-oriented civil service culture of NASA’s predeces- Thus, political support for a long-term program must con- sor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. There tinue even as, inevitably, other issues gain on the national was the big-technology development culture of the German agenda, and elected officials come and go. rocket engineers, led by Wernher von Braun. There was the systems-engineering culture of the Pentagon and missile- building industry, many of whose top technical people 5. Exceptional Administrative Leadership came to NASA and Apollo. Finally, there was the risk-taking Someone had to pull this vast enterprise together and culture of the astronauts. The astronauts added humanity bulldoze it ahead, year after year. James Webb was the and glitz to the machines of science and technology. They leader of NASA from 1961 to 1968 and performed excep- had “the right stuff” for so bold and adventurous an enter- tionally. Webb, not a scientist or engineer, knew how to prise. Without question, NASA in the 1960s was a special work with technical specialists in an executive team. He

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 67 Viewpoints

Apollo as the overriding priority. His final move was to James E. Webb served as maneuver his chosen successor into position to take over the second Administrator before the change in administrations from LBJ to Nixon. He for NASA from February 14, believed that if a politically neutral technocrat was in charge, 1961, to October 7, 1968. Nixon would leave NASA administrative leadership in place He guided the agency at least long enough for the moon flight. He got what he through the Apollo years, wanted. taking responsibility for the failure of Apollo 1 The lesson is that the leader of the agency responsible for a and the death of three national program of great scale must combine managerial astronauts. and political skills to stabilize and buffer the program in the face of shifting external forces and internal setbacks. The

Source: http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2002- 000083.html more continuity in seasoned administrative leadership, the better for seeing the program’s original goal fulfilled.

was a shrewd bureaucratic politician. Truman’s budget Conclusion director and later second-in-command to Dean Acheson These five factors were the key ingredients of Apollo’s suc- in Truman’s Department of State, Webb had also worked cess. Take away any one—a consensus-building catalyst, a as a congressional staffer and succeeded as an executive clear and urgent goal, a powerful agency, sustained political in industry. Canny and professional, he seemed to know support, or exceptional administrative leadership—and suc- everyone in Washington and how to influence them to get cess in achieving the goal would have been jeopardized. In his way. Unlike most other NASA administrators, Webb had contrast, in the early 1970s, at the time of the first energy cri- privileged access to presidents and the most influential leg- sis, Nixon proclaimed “Project Independence.” A new agen- islators. Webb defined leadership as maintaining a strategic cy like NASA, called the Energy Research and Development course of action while coping tactically with diverse, often Administration, was created in the mid-1970s to come up conflicting forces internally and externally. with long-term technical solutions. It was soon absorbed, in 1977, into President Carter’s Department of Energy. It is When he made decisions, he thought about management obvious that at least the organizational and political compo- and politics at once. The decision to locate the new manned nents of success for a major technological initiative in energy space center (later called the Johnson Space Center) outside were not sustained in the 1970s. There was considerable of Houston could be fully justified technically. But it also instability in government, and “who was in charge” was not happened to be in the district of the congressman who had always clear. Project Independence never achieved the kind the greatest influence on NASA’s budget. The insertion of of momentum Apollo had and was in trouble as Carter left Gemini—a program between one-man Mercury and three- office. It succumbed to President Reagan and lack of urgen- man Apollo—was a decision NASA’s technical personnel cy, thanks to ample energy supplies and lower energy costs wanted as a learning step on the way to the moon. It provid- in the 1980s. ed practice in rendezvous and docking in space. Webb saw it also as a means to visibly demonstrate progress in NASA’s Today, the energy crisis has returned and is more permanent program to the public in the mid-’60s when he worried the because both the supply of easily obtained oil is greatly initial enthusiasm would ebb. constrained and several other nations are developing rapidly and competing strongly for what there is. Moreover, climate Webb’s greatest test as a manager and political executive change is an additional factor as a clear and present danger came in 1967 when three Apollo astronauts were killed in in the view of the world’s leading climate scientists. One a fire during a pre-launch test. He used his political capital would expect the next president will have to deal with the with Johnson and Congress to let NASA conduct the inquiry combined climate/energy issue and will have to consider as to what went wrong and make the necessary changes, new technologies for long-term remedies. organizationally and technically, in NASA and its prime contractor. He got NASA through the crisis and back into space That will require Apollo-scale thinking. To be sure, there with extraordinary speed, and made personnel and organi- are differences between the 1960s and today, as there are zational changes that strengthened Apollo. As resources for between the 1970s and today. For decades, government NASA diminished toward the end of the decade, he protected has been painted by politicians of both parties as part

68 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Viewpoints

Satellites Track Global Climate Change

Julian Daily Land Surface MODIS (or Moderate Resolution Imaging Day Reflectance Bands Spectroradiometer) is a key instrument aboard the Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites. Terra’s orbit around the Earth is timed so that it passes from north to south across the equator in the morning, while Aqua passes south to north over the equator in the afternoon. Terra MODIS and Aqua MODIS are viewing the entire Earth’s surface every one to two days, acquiring data in 36 spectral bands, or groups of wavelengths. These data will improve our understanding of global dynamics and processes occurring on the land, in the oceans, and in the lower atmosphere. MODIS is playing a vital role in the development of validated, global, interactive Earth system models able to predict global change accurately enough to assist policy makers in making sound decisions concerning the protection of our environment.

The images on the left are from the MODIS Terra Collection 005.

Source: Roy, D.P., Borak, J.S., Devadiga, S., Wolfe, R.E., Zheng, M., Descloitres, J., 2002, The MODIS Land product quality assessment approach, Remote Sensing of Environment, 83:62-76. http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov. Website hosted at MODIS LDOPE, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Hydrospheric and Biospheric Science Laboratory, Biospheric Information Systems Branch.

of the problem, rather than a leader of solutions. That It can revitalize partnership in government, university, and kind of rhetoric is obsolete in the face of possible global industry relations. It can stimulate interest in science and calamity. The necessity for federal action will come, and technology and public service in a new generation. It can such action will either be effective or fail. It will come in have psychological as well as technical impacts. the same way Apollo came. Apollo happened not because Kennedy planned it when he came into office. It hap- There are times in history when such a model seems par- pened because events forced him to act to accelerate and ticularly germane for certain issues. It would seem such a enlarge a change process already getting under way. The time is coming for the climate/energy challenge. It will be same is likely to occur given anticipated climate/energy up to the next administration to understand the conditions exigencies ahead. that made Apollo successful if history is to be a guide to the future. Finally, it is also essential for the new administration To be sure, the Apollo approach is a “mobilization” model. to see Apollo for what it was: a pivotal technological front Such an approach feeds on a sense of crisis and the ability of of the Cold War. The latter was multi-decadal, with many a political leader to turn adversity into opportunity. It cannot fronts. Winning in science and technology was essential to be maintained indefinitely, but, if managed well, can in a triumph in the longer, broader contest. So it will be with decade propel technology forward and jump-start the nation. climate/energy.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 69 Forum:Viewpoints Title

What Do (and What Should) Federal Officials Do During a Presidential Transition?

By Bruce W. McConnell

Well before Election Day 2008, government agencies, interest groups, and the candidates themselves began Figure 1: Population of Senior Federal Officials working to make the transition to the 44th U.S. president go smoothly and benefit the nation. This article focuses on 1,100 Senate-Confirmed Appointees the actions of federal officials in four separate phases of 3,400 Other Political Appointments the transition: pre-election, post-election, post-inauguration, and post-arrival (of incoming political officials). It differ- entiates between three types of officials: political officials 6,500 Career Senior Executive Service connected with the outgoing administration, incoming political officials, and senior career civil servants. Finally, it provides some tips for making the transition a success for all concerned. 150,000 Career GS–14s and 15s Who’s Actually Involved? As scholar Paul Light has noted, direct interaction between political officials and career staffs generally penetrates only the uppermost levels of the career bureaucracy.1 Figure 1 shows the approximate employee populations of the senior officials who may be involved in the transition.

The bottom line is that most feds won’t be affected directly by the transition. For those who are involved, however, the 18-month period from early 2008 to late 2009 is fraught with years.2 During this period, the principal political actors are unpredictability. Agility and tolerance for ambiguity, long the those in the outgoing administration who are still on board. hallmarks of successful careerists, become salient. To better understand how these qualities, and others, come into play, Post-Election runs from Election Day (or whenever the it’s useful to unpack the timeline. results are official) to Inauguration Day. It is the time of the formal transition. During this time, political officials from When Is the Transition, Anyway? both the outgoing and incoming administrations are present and active. Typically, transition teams are formed for each Four distinct phases make up any presidential transition. agency and bureau, made up of outsiders who are knowl- While career officials are involved in all four, the mix of edgeable about the agency’s programs and are perceived as political officials is evolving during this period. As Figure 2 loyal to the incoming administration’s policies. Across gov- on page 72 shows, a variety of activities cut across the ernment, hundreds of people will participate. These teams phases and the various players. are provided for in law (3 U.S.C. 102) and are supported by 3 Pre-Election began in mid-2007 as inertia and a different appropriated funds, although they are not federal agencies. set of priorities began to overtake the energy for new starts Post-Inauguration begins on January 20, 2009, and, for most in federal programs. The political focus in the administra- career officials, runs for weeks or months until their new tion shifts in this phase from pushing into new territory to political bosses actually arrive. While cabinet agency heads, consolidating improvements made during the first seven and a skeleton crew including “counselors” (appointees who

70 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Viewpoints

Bruce W. McConnell is an independent consultant. He is the former president of McConnell International, LLC, and served three U.S. presidents as an advisor on information and technology policy. His e-mail: [email protected]. are awaiting confirmation), will be in place within the first Fifth, all officials—outgoing, incoming, or staying—are paying 45 days, it usually takes until fall for the full complement of attention to potential career opportunities (and pitfalls) during appointees to be on the job. this time. Recognizing this most human instinct is important from a managerial standpoint, especially for incoming politi- Post-Arrival begins variably for each agency, bureau, and cals who are entering an unsettled environment. senior career official. For the most senior career folks serving in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Sixth, there is the trust factor. Often the incoming politicals State, or the Office of Management and Budget, post-arrival do not instantly trust the career staff. And why should they? coincides with post-inauguration. For those whose jobs sup- The career staff faithfully implemented the previous admin- port an assistant secretary, it can last well into 2009. istration’s programs and policies. And trust ultimately has a person-to-person quality. It takes time. What Do All These Officials Do? Finally, turning the federal battleship in any significant way As the transition occurs, the activities of federal officials usually takes several years, given the factors above, the long change and overlap. A look at Figure 2 and the benefit of lead time of federal budgets, the highly decentralized nature experience suggest seven observations. of federal management, and the slowness of Congress to act on new proposals. One might ask whether new forms First, the new political appointees face a steep learning curve. of decision making are needed, given the increasing pace The complexity of federal organization, authorities, and proof change in the world and the collaborative tools that can grams becomes more complex each year. At the basic getting- facilitate decision making. But today’s challenge is to make things-done level, many appointees have limited experience the current system work. with government and find basic norms around procurement and personnel practices shocking and frustrating. Tips for Succeeding, Whether Career or Second, it is clear that career officials face a complex set of Political loyalties, as their activities take place across administrations The transition presents challenges and opportunities to all and they are interacting with their old and new masters. the players. Looking forward into 2009, the biggest of these They are responsible for keeping the trains running on time is building trust relationships between the incoming politicals 4 while the dispatchers change shifts. and the senior career staff. All the normal precepts of team- building and change management apply here. But five spe- Third, the more savvy civil servants have not only partici- cific activities can make a difference in this unique situation: pated in the preparation of transition papers and plans, they listening, opening, exploring, truth-telling, and service. have developed their own program proposals. They have paid attention to the messaging and themes of the candi- Listening. One of the biggest challenges is translating what dates, and have aligned useful program improvements with people say into what they mean. The government and the the incoming opportunity. private sector speak different languages because they think differently. State government and nonprofits have their own Fourth, career officials may spend considerable time acting worldviews. Indeed, a number of firms have been success- in positions that will be taken on by politicals. This can be ful in Washington simply through their ability to translate a dangerous but useful activity—dangerous in terms of the government-speak into business- or nonprofit-speak and need to avoid overreaching, and useful in terms of under- vice versa. The key here is to avoid making assumptions or standing the pressures involved in the job.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 71 Viewpoints

jumping to conclusions. Instead, ask questions to achieve beginning. And, while the instinct may be to shield your clarity. “What does this acronym mean and what’s the best people from the sometimes unproductive interactions history behind it? What do you mean when you say with new management, you will get a better result from giv- ‘unobligated balances’?” ing them the opportunity to speak and mentoring them if the going gets too rough. Opening. Now that you’ve listened, and understand what the other really meant, take a moment. Withhold judgment, Truth-Telling. This is a particularly rich area. You can tell suspend disbelief, give your counterpart the benefit of the it’s happening if you hear (and deliver) sentences like these: doubt. Both sides will hear unbelievable things that can be “Here’s where the skeletons and the land mines are. Here’s cause for serious eye-rolling. When you hear, “Procurement what I don’t know about the program area that I’ve just will take 120 days to get that here,” don’t assume you are come in to manage. Here’s what we learned when we tried being sandbagged. And when you hear, “Here’s an inno- this last time. Here are the real political pressures I’m feeling vative way we discovered how to solve a similar problem that we need to address as we move forward. Here are the when I was with XYZ corp (or foundation),” don’t start by key congressional staff you need to get to know.” And so on. creating a mental list of all the drawbacks. Don’t hold back—there’s a shared ethic here, and that is ...

Exploring. In any organization there are a few people who Service. Most career and political officials are in their jobs really know what’s going on. As likely as not, they will not for the same reason: They believe in the mission of the agency show up at initial transition meetings, because they tend and want to make it better serve the American people. to be too candid. But they can be found by reputation and Bringing out that shared ethic of service through conversa- by walking around, visiting field offices, and asking question and by example is a sign of true leadership. The chal- tions. The converse applies to the career staff: There are a lenges the nation faces today require that kind of leadership. lot of folk who know your new political masters. A little Without it, government will continue to disappoint. Stepping due diligence can help avoid major misunderstanding at the up to serve is the real opportunity of this transition.

Figure 2: Transition Activities of Federal Officials

Pre-Election Post-Election Post-Inauguration Post-Arrival

Outgoing Politicals Prepare transition Participate in papers and plans transition meetings

Review employment options

Career Officials Prepare transition papers, plans, and program proposals Participate in transition meetings Act for missing political officials Review employment options

Incoming Politicals Prepare transition papers and plans Participate in transition meetings Review employment options

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Endnotes 1. Light shows how this interaction has become more complex, with a reduction in accountability, in his analysis of the “thickening” of the political hierarchy, i.e., the number of layers between the agency head and the front lines of government. See, for example, “Fact Sheet on the Continued Thickening of Government,” (Paul C. Light, Brookings, 2004, http://www.brookings.edu/ papers/2004/0723governance_light.aspx), which has an amazing list of 64 executive titles used in various agencies. My favorite is deputy executive associate administrator. 2. Indeed, in a candid August 2008 report on the President’s Management Agenda—with one more expected before the election— the Office of Management and Budget provided evidence of the slowdown as several agencies slipped back in e-government and human resources (http://www.whitehouse.gov/results/agenda/FY08Q3-SCORECARD.pdf). 3. The Department of Justice has provided a useful guide to the legal status of these teams (http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foia_updates/ Vol_IX_4/ix_4page2.htm). 4. One wag likened the transition to the Pony Express, the difference being that, instead of fresh horses, fresh riders are provided.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 73 ManagementForum: Title

The National Security Council: Recommendations for the New President

By D. Robert Worley

This article is adapted from D. Robert Worley, “The National • History of the NSC (1947–2008) presents a more detailed Security Council: Recommendations for the New President” history of the NSC including the specific organizations (Washington, D.C.: IBM Center for The Business of and processes employed by past administrations. Government, 2008). Memorandum to the New President National security and the use of the instruments of national power is one of the most important challenges facing a new The National Security Council is your principal mechanism administration. Since 1947, presidents have had the use of for orchestrating the instruments of national power. It is an the National Security Council (NSC) as an advisory body on advisory body and not a decision-making body, and it has issues of national security policy. In addition to the Council no directive authority over the departments and agencies of itself, a hierarchy of committees and working groups is government. The president decides after receiving advice involved in the process. from inside and outside the NSC system and directs the departments and agencies that have the statutory authorities Through the years, presidents have taken different approach- and capacities to implement policy. es to structuring their national security process. Some chose to manage national security centrally from the White House; The NSC system implements a collaborative interagency others distributed this function through the cabinet. Some process to inform and engage the departments and agen- chose strong secretaries of state to lead in this area, while cies that wield the instruments of power. When the process others elevated the position of national security advisor. works well, it produces clear policy statements that guide the Some used the National Security Council strictly for policy actions of the executive branch. More importantly, it builds formulation and oversight of implementation, while others throughout the bureaucracy a deep understanding of objec- allowed it to become involved in policy implementation. tives and the methods for achieving them.

This report examines 60 years of history of how presidents By properly employing the NSC you extend your reach, have used the National Security Council organization and magnify your vision, and amplify your energy in furtherance process. From the administration of Harry Truman to George of national security. W. Bush, the report analyzes which approaches succeeded and which failed. Recommendations The report is organized into three parts: Recommendations for your administration are organized below into those that should be taken immediately upon • Memorandum to the New President presents recommen- Inauguration Day, those that should be undertaken during dations for the next administration regarding management your first year in office, and those that will require sustained of national security, particularly with regard to the use of effort throughout the full term of your administration. the National Security Council. Some of the recommendations are dependent on the structure of the new adminis- On Inauguration Day tration and its choice of national security strategy. Initiative in the first year of your administration is critical. • An Assessment of the NSC System presents the findings and There are several actions you can take prior to entering conclusions of the study—what works and what doesn’t— office to reduce the risk of delays and missteps. derived from NSC organization and process since its inception but emphasizing the post–Cold War era.

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Figure 1: National Security Council System Organization

The only government official with authorities across President Trusted Inner Circle departmental boundaries

Cabinet-level membership Assistant for National including president and vice NSC president Security Affairs

Cabinet-level membership Executive Secretary Principals excluding president and vice and Secretariat president Committee

Sub-cabinet-level membership including deputy heads of Deputies departments and agencies, or Committee perhaps under secretaries

Chaired at assistant-secretary level with regional or issue- specific portfolio and staffed Working Groups with non-political officers detailed from departments and agencies

1. Determine your approach to national security • If you choose to manage through the NSC, then you will management as you are considering cabinet nominees. need a robust NSC staff to lead in policy formulation and There are three broad options for managing national security. to manage the interagency process. You may adopt cabinet government and delegate to depart- • If you choose to manage through your cabinet, then the ment secretaries. You may designate State or Defense as lead department staffs will formulate their respective policies agency and delegate to its secretary. You may instead manage and you will need a robust NSC staff to assist in their national security through your assistant for national security integration and to manage the interagency process. affairs. In all cases, you will provide high-level guidance, reserve the most critical and crosscutting decisions for your- • If you choose a lead agency approach, it may be that self, and delegate. Ensure that political nominees are aware no department staff has the capacity to manage the inter- of the role they are expected to play to avoid the destructive agency process for policy formulation. It will take time to competitions that have plagued some administrations. The remedy the shortfall, but you need an interagency pro- design of your National Security Council—its role, size, and cess that works on Inauguration Day. Instead, assign NSC staffing—supports and must wait on your choice of approach committee and working group chairs to the lead agency. to managing national security. Responsibilities can be transferred from the NSC staff to the lead agency staff if and when capacity is assured. 2. Center policy formulation in the NSC initially. It is recommended that you initially center the interagency 3. Direct the State Department to establish explicit process for policy formulation in the NSC. bodies for oversight of policy implementation and for coordination of day-to-day operations.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 75 Management

D. Robert Worley is a Senior Fellow of Johns Hopkins University’s Institute of Government and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. His e-mail: [email protected].

Managing national security is more than formulating a If you value multiple options and diversity of view, appoint unifying policy. There are separate interagency processes outside subject-matter experts as well. for policy formulation, oversight of implementation, and coordination of day-to-day operations. Achieving unity of In the First Year effort requires orchestration of all instruments of national power at all levels of government. The first year of your administration provides the greatest, and perhaps only, opportunity to set your administration’s 4. Continue with the organization established by national security agenda. George H. W. Bush and adopted by successive post– Cold War presidents. 8. Initiate a series of policy reviews to set the agenda Critically important time at the beginning of your adminis- and to begin building the interagency teams that will tration will be lost experimenting with new organizational support you during crisis management. arrangements between the NSC and the departments and The first year of your administration is the time to initiate agencies. You will have time to fine-tune organization as changes in policy direction. Set the agenda by initiating a your administration gains experience. range of policy reviews. Maintain continuous policy review; it not only allows you to adapt to the evolving landscape 5. Issue a presidential directive on Inauguration Day and to adjust course, it prepares your staff to respond to the announcing your NSC. crises that certainly will emerge. Be prepared to issue a presidential directive on Inauguration Day announcing the organization and process of your 9. Use the NSC interagency process to thoroughly national security system. It is an assignment of roles and engage the expertise resident in the executive branch missions to the departments and agencies and to your cabi- and to direct its energies. net nominees. Secretaries, deputy secretaries, and assistant secretaries chair NSC committees, as may your assistant for national secu- 6. Defer reduction of the NSC staff until your admin- rity affairs. The experience and expertise lies not with your istration’s second year. appointees, however, but with the professional civil servants It is common to criticize the outgoing administration for and uniformed military detailed to the NSC staff and those having a large, bloated staff. But the demands of office otherwise engaged in the interagency process from their invariably create upward pressure on staff size. Policies are parent agencies. The energy to change direction must come formulated early in an administration for the departments from the chief executive. Through engagement you provide and agencies to implement. A large staff is needed immedi- the energy to overcome friction. To engage is to benefit from ately to provide adequate processing capacity. The staff later the experience and to gain buy-in from those who must shifts from formulation to oversight of implementation and implement your policies. To not engage is to virtually guar- to crisis response. Reduce staff then if justified. antee policy failure in implementation. The NSC system is your most direct mechanism for control and change. 7. Resist the temptation to effect a clean sweep of NSC staff and to overload the NSC staff with partisans. 10. Seek advice beyond the NSC, and use the NSC’s Civilians and military detailed to the NSC staff are on staggered process to extend your reach, magnify your vision, and rotations, providing continuity in the interagency teams. The amplify your energy. experience of detailees is invaluable. Loyalty to person or You will likely choose to receive advice in private from a party comes at the expense of experience and competence. range of sources. Regardless, your regular attendance at formal

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NSC meetings, with departmental staff in attendance, provides atic. Resolution of interagency conflicts can only be decided you with your best opportunity to communicate your strategic by presidential intervention. vision and to enable government to pursue your objectives. Ongoing efforts are considering fundamental reorganization Throughout Your Administration and of the national security apparatus driven by evidence that Beyond state-building operations are problematic and not supported by the current division of labor. A massive reorganization A major challenge of your administration is organizing of government without a sustainable political consensus on for the 21st century. Post–Cold War strategies have relied strategy is ill advised. From legislative authorization and heavily on state-building operations that have exposed the appropriation to fielded capabilities may take a decade or weakness of some instruments of power and have exacer- more. Government cannot be reorganized for each incoming bated the problems of orchestrating the many instruments. administration’s strategy. It isn’t at all clear that these missions have widespread public support. And the wisdom of the mission as a way to 14. Preserve congressional confidence in the NSC. achieve national security ends is not yet apparent. Not all The NSC is a privileged organization. It is an advisory body national security strategies rely on state building. to the president. There is a tension between providing candid advice that is dependent on privacy versus the transparency 11. Foster a public debate on national security strategy. necessary for democracy. When the NSC is in high repute, Formulating national security strategy—the linkage of ends, Congress yields to the president’s privacy. The president must ways, and means—is a statutory responsibility of the presi- maintain congressional confidence. dent. Throughout the Cold War, a bipartisan strategic consensus held under the rubric of containment. But post–Cold Much can be done with executive orders and presidential direc- War strategies have fluctuated wildly with no consensus or tives. Use them for the less contentious issues or for immediate stability in sight. Your policies are formulated in the context need. For policies to survive your administration, Congress of strategy, and without sustainable political consensus to must take ownership. Ownership requires congressional commitment, your policies will suffer from lack of support engagement, authorization, and appropriation. The chief exec- and will expire with your administration. Consensus is built utive initiates change; Congress institutionalizes change. only through engagement with the public.

12. Balance the instruments of national power. To Learn More The instruments of national power are many, including military, informational, diplomatic, law enforcement, intelligence, The National financial, and economic instruments. Your options for action Security Council: Recommendations for the are limited by the instruments available. The instruments New President wielded by the departments and agencies of government can by D. Robert Worley be balanced only in the context of a national security strategy.

13. Align the instruments of national power within the departments and agencies to facilitate their orchestration and to produce unity of effort. The report can be obtained: The division of labor represented by the current organiza- • In .pdf (Acrobat) format tion of the executive branch is the product of a decades-long at the Center website, era of major power conflict. Largely through accidents of www.businessofgovernment.org history, the instruments are spread across the departments • By e-mailing the Center at and agencies that wield them. Their number, diversity, and [email protected] • By calling the Center at (202) 515-4504 distribution, compounded by the demands of state-building • By faxing the Center at (202) 515-4375 operations, make their orchestration increasingly problem-

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 77 ManagementForum: Title

Biometrics: Enhancing Security in Organizations

By Babita Gupta

This article is adapted from Babita Gupta, “Biometrics: The private sector is also exploring the use of biomet- Enhancing Security in Organizations” (Washington, D.C.: rics. One private sector problem is what is called “buddy IBM Center for The Business of Government, 2008). punching,” which is when an employee punches a time- card for another person. McDonald’s fast-food chain Security of physical, financial, and information assets is implemented biometrics to manage employee fraud due to emerging as a critical issue for organizations. Lapses in buddy punching, reducing their payroll costs by 22 per- security such as unauthorized personnel gaining access to cent annually. Taylor Farm, a processing plant for bagging critical assets can have serious consequences that extend produce, was incurring 20 percent of payroll cost due to beyond the organization. Organizations need to have an buddy punching. Taylor Farm replaced time clocks with absolute trust in the identity of their employees, customers, fingerprint biometric devices to reduce fraud and high contractors, and partners; that is, that they are really who costs and was able to achieve positive return on invest- they say they are. ment within three months.

Usual solutions to the problem of establishing legitimate Typically, implementations of any new information system identity involve using systems that rely on what a legitimate have a high failure rate. Implementation of biometric systems user knows (for example, passwords or personal identifi- is a complex and costly endeavor and susceptible to fail- cation numbers) or what a legitimate user possesses (for ure without careful considerations. Some best practices to example, ID cards or keys). However, these methods are sus- consider during biometric adoption and implementation are ceptible to fraud and security threats as they do not identify provided below. the person but simply identify the information that is provided by that person. Biometric technology offers a solution Best Practices Related to Organizations to these vulnerabilities and provides a level of confidence needed for dependence on information systems and their Organizations need to: legitimate users. • Make sure that they are not using biometrics for technol- Biometrics is likely to be the vital component of next- ogy’s sake but rather to solve a problem that the organiza- generation security systems providing greater reliability and tion is facing. accountability. Biometrics can be used to secure facilities, • Have the full support and involvement of senior manage- workstations, cellular phones, smart cards, online transac- ment, as that is likely to result in successful implementations. tions, and communication networks. Technological advances in the field of biometrics and its rapid commercialization • Consider carefully the added benefits of integrating a bio- are enabling its adoption among a wide array of public and metric system with other business systems such as payroll. private sector organizations. Biometric technologies are • Plan for a lengthy initial biometric enrollment process. experiencing high growth, with revenues likely to increase from $2.7 billion in 2007 to $7.1 billion by 2012. • Recognize that biometric systems may in fact require more processing time than traditional methods of authen- Many government organizations have already implemented tication, such as passwords or smart cards. biometric systems because of the derived benefits such as • Plan for post-implementation support. gaining better control of access to physical and digital facilities, managing personnel identity, enabling self-service, and fostering greater trust in e-government interactions.

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What Are Biometrics?

Biometrics refers to the process of automatically recognizing a living person using his or her distinguishing, measurable traits. Biometric systems identify the person rather than what the person has (like ID cards) or what they remember (like passwords). The term biometrics refers to the statistical analysis of biological phenomena and mea- surements and has been widely used to describe technologies used for personal identity management.

Hand-Geometry Verification Facial Recognition Hand geometry has been in use since the early 1970s. Facial recognition is designed primarily to find close Dimensions of the hand such as finger length, width, matches of particular facial features such as eyes, nose, and area are the major features used for analyses. mouth, cheekbones, chin, and forehead against a database of static facial images. Hand Characteristics and Hand Geometry Reader Facial Features

Source: Adapted from (Left) Biometrics Foundation Documents, 2008. (Right) http://recognitionsystems.ingersollrand.com/products/. Source: Adapted from Who Goes There, 2004.

Iris Recognition Voice Verification Iris recognition is among the most reliable and accurate One of the least invasive of the biometric recognition biometric technology. Every human iris is measurably systems is to use the voice of the user to identify her unique. uniquely. All the systems that analyze voice are rooted in speech-processing technology. Human Iris Patterns Speech Frequency Spectrum

Source: Adapted from Biometrics big brother, 2004. Source: Biometric Measures, 2005.

Best Practices Related to End Users • Inform employees about the scope of the use of biometric data collected to allay any privacy fears. In order to ensure user acceptance, organizations need to: • Inform employees about the technology and the process • Assuage employee fears about biometrics by making to generate greater trust and employee buy-in. This is extensive efforts to communicate with employees and most effective when done by people whom employees educating them about the need for the technology and already trust. implementation issues.

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• Create a responsive feedback loop for employees and end users to report and fix problems associated with biometric Fingerprint Verification Used for PIV Cards system rollout. • Allow for users who may be unable to present the specific Fingerprint verification is the most popular and one of biometric used by the system. the oldest biometrics. Three main patterns make fingerprints unique: the loop, whorl, and arc. In verify- • Plan for user training in biometric enrollment and subse- ing a fingerprint, many systems look at minutiae—the quent use. friction ridges location on a fingerprint where a fric- • Have a process in place to ensure that enrollment takes tion skin ridge begins, terminates, or splits into two or place in a manner that does not inconvenience employees more ridges. Position and orientation of these friction or slow down ongoing operations within the organization. ridges are used as the basic attributes to describe a minutiae that cover the fingertips. Best Practices Related to Technology Fingerprint Characteristics and Minutiae Integration To minimize technology risks, organizations need to: crossover • Ensure that biometrics is integrated with overall organiza- core tional security measures. bifurcation ridge ending • Plan to implement biometrics initially on a small scale. island • Make sure that biometric devices in the field would be delta capable of operating in stand-alone mode. pore • Minimize the amount of sensitive information about employees that is stored at any time in biometric devices operational in the field to protect personal biometric data against theft. • Ensure that the biometric data capture process does not take significant amounts of time. • Plan for biometric devices that may require special enclo- sure or environmental conditions to work effectively. • Find the right balance of processing speed and accuracy trade-offs when selecting a biometric for an application. Source: Biometrics Foundation Documents, 2008. • Make sure that the biometric selected is compliant with available industry standards to ensure interoperability and improve scalability. Establishing Criteria for PIV Card Specifications HSPD-12 mandates the development and implementa- Case Study: HSPD-12 and Personal tion of a Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card for each Identity Verification Cards federal employee and contractor that would be secure and reliable and rely on a government-wide standard to ensure Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 (HSPD-12) interoperability. was issued by President George W. Bush in August 2004, directing government agencies to ensure that only verified To establish standards for secure and interoperable PIV and authenticated personnel were able to have physical cards required by HSPD-12, the National Institute of access to federally controlled government facilities and Standards and Technology (NIST) was tasked with develop- electronic access to government information systems. The ing Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 201 for goals: to enhance security and efficiency and reduce identity granting physical and logical access to federal employees fraud for all federal employees. and contractors. FIPS 201 establishes technical acquisition

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and formatting specifications; procedures for identity proof- • Makes it easier to maintain data standards and database ing, registration, and PIV card issuance and usage; formats security since all biometric data storage and maintenance for fingerprints and facial images; and cryptographic pro- is done by GSA as the service provider. tection requirements of the biometric data to ensure high- • Obviates the need for a federal agency to acquire high performance and universal interoperability. technical capability, experience, and resources. Choosing the Right Biometrics • Reduces overall costs of implementation due to econo- A PIV card uses only two types of biometrics: fingerprint mies of scale since cost is spread across several agencies. and facial scan. However, the PIV relies primarily on fin- • Reduces risks for the agency, as PIV cards are compatible gerprint biometrics. Digital facial-image scans are used as across all federal agencies with cross-agency readers. secondary biometrics in cases where a user is unable to provide a fingerprint during enrollment or authentication. • Reduces time to completion.

For fingerprint biometrics, a minutiae template rather than Currently, about 70 federal agencies use GSA as their shared fingerprint image was preferred due to the former’s much service provider while 20 federal agencies have opted to smaller size, thus requiring less bandwidth and transmis- store and control their own data. Agencies that had opted sion time. However, there is not one standard for a minutiae out of GSA as their shared service provider find that their template; fingerprint vendors use their own definitions to cost of implementing HSPD-12 is higher. Most of these 20 describe a minutiae and proprietary algorithms to match agencies are military or international in scope. the same minutiae. Therefore, NIST conducted extensive research into interoperability standards and tested the perfor- Babita Gupta is Professor of Information Systems at the mance of various algorithms against these standards to create School of Business, California State University, Monterey a compliant list of products that ensure interoperability. Bay. Her e-mail: [email protected].

Establishing Operating Procedures for Assuring Interoperability To Learn More FIPS 201 specifications provide the exact procedures for agencies for retaining fingerprint images and for transforming Biometrics: Enhancing fingerprint images into records suitable for transmission to Security in Organizations the FBI for the employee’s background check. by Babita Gupta

Once the FBI approves the federal employee or contractor for PIV card registration, to make sure that the right person is being issued the card a fingerprint template is generated.

Establishing a Single Shared Service Provider The report can be obtained: for Multiple Agencies • In .pdf (Acrobat) format

The General Services Administration (GSA) is in charge at the Center website, of implementing HSPD-12, which is to be completed by www.businessofgovernment.org October 2008. GSA is designated as the shared service pro- • By e-mailing the Center at vider for federal agencies. Its role is to manage the contracts; [email protected] manage all databases; and manage the issuance and man- • By calling the Center at (202) 515-4504 • By faxing the Center at (202) 515-4375 agement process of PIV cards, IDs, and other credentials. Choosing GSA as the shared service provider to manage the HSPD-12 compliance process for the federal government does the following:

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Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government

By Ai-Mei Chang and P. K. Kannan

This article is adapted from Ai-Mei Chang and P. K. Kannan, enables rich user experiences that go much beyond the “Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government” (Washington, D.C.: Web 1.0 era. Many technologies populate the platform— IBM Center for The Business of Government, 2008). blogs, mashups, peer-to-peer computing, RSS, social networks and online communities, podcasts, wikis, tagging The era of Web 2.0 is upon us. The Web 2.0 platform is and bookmarking, to name a few—leading to an environ- a networked world supporting individual users creating ment of “collective intelligence” (according to Tim O’Reilly, content individually and collectively, sharing and updat- www.oreilly.com) that all users and firms can harness. These ing information and knowledge using sophisticated, diverse applications share some common characteristics. They have sharing devices and tools, and remixing and improving on the potential to deliver enhanced customer service experi- content created by each other. It is a network platform that ences, to allow high levels of interactions and the co-creation allows high levels of user interactions, resulting in content and of services, and to deliver self-service through a variety of updates that are in the “permanent beta” stage, which in turn devices, both wired and wireless.

Figure 1: Transition from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 Web 1.0 Web 2.0

Content publishing by website Content creation by members owner (business to consumer, (peer to peer) government to citizen)

Blogging, vlogging, and interaction Data extraction by website owner by members

Content management Wikis—members, consumers, systems—producer and producers

Portals Search engines

Directories and taxonomy Tagging and “folksonomy”

People, data, and application People and data “mashups”

Stickiness Syndication

Syntax Semantics

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Ai-Mei Chang is Professor of Systems Management at the University of Maryland University College. Her e-mail: [email protected].

The challenge to businesses and governments in this era of To engage citizens and customers in their online commu- Web 2.0 is how to effectively harness this potential and the nities, governments and businesses need to increase their collective intelligence that is constantly evolving in this envi- coverage and reach to deliver content and services. To do ronment. This challenge is not confined to the technology this in a cost-effective way, institutions will have to rely on arena alone. It involves the organizational and social struc- emerging intermediaries, who could be individual citizens tures as well, and results in transformations in both areas. themselves or other businesses and firms who will create This is because the era of Web 2.0 is one of “social comput- and enhance content and create “mashups” and applications ing” that is characterized by a rapid shift of control from the to distribute services to citizens. Use of intermediaries will firms and institutions to the users. Thus, from the government also enable governments to provide enhanced, customized institutional perspective, the notion of the co-creation of services to their citizens at much lower costs than the current services and governance issues would have to deal with centralized provision of service. (1) the shift in control to users and (2) users and external organizations acting as intermediaries to service other users. Governments and businesses have to necessarily relinquish The design and delivery of content and services will have control in distributing service to citizens and customers to be transformed. The framework and processes to create through the intermediaries. This is because the intermedi- citizen relationships, to strengthen citizen trust and loyalties, aries will need to access content and services from the and to enhance civic engagements will have to be thought government in a way that is most suitable for providing through and designed carefully. the appropriate service to the citizen constituents they focus on. This has clear implications for the content and Implications of Web 2.0 for Government Agencies service quality that citizens obtain through the new The Web 2.0 platform renders the online environment distribution outlets. individual-user-centric. From the government and business viewpoint, this means institutions will have to engage citi- Government interactions with citizens will also become less zens and customers at sites where they are (in social network formal in such settings, which may have a negative impact sites and online communities) rather than create portals and on the power of the government to wield authority. This all-purpose websites and expect citizens and customers may also lead to loss of control and bypassing hierarchical to approach them. This has implications for how service structures. In addition, there is potential for conflicts with provision and uses of Web 2.0 are designed—pointing to the intermediaries and among intermediaries in how content is need to move away from portals to citizen-centric Web 2.0 presented and customized to citizen constituents. applications such as “mashups” to deliver products and services to users’ devices. The most important implication for governments and businesses as a result of the loss of control, informality of interac- Reaching citizens where they are—in their communities— tion, use of intermediaries, and the need for customization to will also enable governments to harness the collective intel- citizens/customers is that the content and service have to be ligence of citizens, such as feedback on services, ways to designed in an entirely different way from how they are now improve the design of content and services, and ways to designed. distribute content and services efficiently to various citizen groups. In addition, such an engagement with citizens in • Content has to be addressable in a very granular form so their own settings will enhance the trust citizens have in their that intermediaries can pick the appropriate content and government and help government to build citizen loyalty. application they need to fulfill their service task.

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P. K. Kannan is the Director of the Center for Excellence in Service and the Harvey Sanders Associate Professor of Marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. His e-mail: [email protected].

• Privacy of citizen content and information has to be for using Web 2.0. The Web 2.0 environment can span defined at a granular level for the same reason. three distinct types of uses—those that are communication- focused, those that are interaction-focused, and those that • Security considerations may dictate the design of the are service-focused, as shown in Figure 2. content and transportability of content to citizens in their online communities. As depicted in Figure 2, the level of engagement with the Finally, evolving Web 2.0/3.0 applications will demand a citizens and constituents increases as the focus shifts from new environment of collaborative culture within govern- one of pure communication to one of service delivery and ment agencies and organizations, which will also necessitate fulfillment. In some sense, the communication-focused uses, newer ways of designing jobs and managing human resourc- which form the foundation for the higher-level engagements es within the agencies. of interaction- and service-focused uses, are also the low- hanging fruit that governments can start taking advantage of A Framework for Using Web 2.0 in Government immediately. In a similar manner, the internal uses (within It is important for government executives interested in lever- government) are somewhat easier than the externally aging Web 2.0 to have an appreciation of the framework focused uses.

Figure 2: A Framework for Government’s Use of Web 2.0

High

Internally focused • Mashups of service and content through intermediaries, web service (employee and other • Service provision at citizens’ location agencies) vs. externally • Virtual world experimentation focused (citizens and • Citizen/business engagement to enhance trust and loyalty businesses)

• Social network sites and blogs • Employee and constituent feedback on information and service—forums GEMENT • Tagging and social bookmarking of government content • Wikis to support interaction, civic engagement • Virtual world interactions

• Institutional vs. externally oriented blogs; RSS LEVEL OF ENGA • Enterprise social networks • Wikis • Podcasts and vlogs • Privacy/security considerations of internal and external applications Low

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Recommendations “meet” citizens where they are online and as intermediaries Based on the implications of Web 2.0 for government and begin to “mash up” government data and services. Users the framework for its possible uses, the authors offer the fol- need to be assured that government-provided information is lowing recommendations for government executives: clearly labeled so they can better judge the authenticity of the information or service they are accessing. Developing Recommendation 1: Just do it. Government should embark such an approach may be a government-wide initiative, on pilot projects to understand and experiment with social possibly led by the National Institute of Standards and computing in the Web 2.0 environment. Technology.

Recommendation 2: Develop a government-wide inventory Recommendation 6: Learn and keep an open mind. It is of common Web 2.0 issues. An inventory of common Web important for government agency executives to recognize 2.0-related policy issues should be developed, and agencies that social computing is evolving even as the Web 2.0 plat- need to address these issues collectively rather than having form morphs into Web 3.0 and beyond; it is in a perpetual each agency individually develop their own solutions. This beta state. This calls for executives to have a learning attitude could be done from inside government—for example, out toward the initiatives they launch in the social computing of the Office of Management and Budget’s Administrator environment. Government agencies should start measuring for E-Government and Information Technology—or via an the levels of engagement of Web 2.0 uses from day one and external honest broker such as the Collaboration Project, measure the effectiveness of uses through direct feedback sponsored by the National Academy of Public Administration from citizens on a regular basis. (www.collaborationproject.org). In the context of fast-paced developments in the Web 2.0 Recommendation 3: Strategically rethink how to deliver on environment and the increasing trend in citizen adoption of your mission. Individual agencies or major programs should the environment, it is imperative that government organiza- strategically develop service-focused uses that may involve tions start implementing pilot projects with a view to learn- using Web 2.0 approaches to reconfigure their business ing and leveraging the new environment. However, such models or services in order to more effectively deliver on initiatives should be undertaken with a full understanding of their own core missions or outcomes that require collabora- the evolving environment, its implications for applications, tion with other agencies. This rethinking should be a part of and citizens’ perception of such applications. We hope that their required agency-wide strategic planning process and this study will assist government executives in gaining a not just within their technology offices. quick appreciation of these critical issues prior to planning their own initiatives. Recommendation 4: Reconfigure your Internet information and services to be more component-based. As agencies redesign their websites, they need to focus on making their To Learn More services and information more granular, or component- Leveraging Web 2.0 in based, and give users the ability to use government informa- Government tion in “mashups” with other information sources. Along by Ai-Mei Chang and with the trend in service-oriented architecture (SOA) and the P. K. Kannan need for reusable service modules in the context of intermediaries extending the reach of government, government agencies need to develop policies to support the handling of such information and service modules. Given the increased role of reputed intermediaries in the Web 2.0 environment, government agencies might well consider leveraging inter- The report can be obtained: mediaries for Web 2.0 initiatives. • In .pdf (Acrobat) format at the Center website, Recommendation 5: Ensure authenticity of government www.businessofgovernment.org • By e-mailing the Center at information and services. Agencies need to develop strate- [email protected] gies and policies whereby they (or their customers) can • By calling the Center at (202) 515-4504 ensure the authenticity of government-generated informa- • By faxing the Center at (202) 515-4375 tion and services. This is important as government begins to

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What the Federal Government Can Do to Encourage Green Production

By Nicole Darnall

This article is adapted from Nicole Darnall, “What the are the actions companies take in order to comply with Federal Government Can Do to Encourage Green Production” environmental regulations. These actions are considered (Washington, D.C.: IBM Center for The Business of reactive because companies are required by law to imple- Government, 2008). ment them.

In recent years numerous studies and media accounts have By contrast, proactive environmental activities are the efforts discussed how companies that are improving their environ- companies undertake that are not required by law and that mental performance by undertaking green production are reduce pollution. Green production is a type of proactive reporting significant financial benefits from doing so. While environmental activity. deriving financial benefits is good for business, the environmental benefits of these private actions also can be enjoyed It is a twofold concept that has both an internal and by society. This win-win arrangement raises an important external focus: question for the new administration and the 111th Congress: If business opportunities exist from engaging in green pro- • Internally, green production involves the improvement of duction, why aren’t all companies pursuing it? a company’s organizational efficiencies by minimizing waste in the production cycle. These efforts can increase This report identifies six obstacles that discourage most com- profitability in that a company’s output remains constant panies from undertaking green production: while its cost per unit output falls. • Externally, green production involves addressing the • Insufficient federal leadership increasing demand for green products and technologies. • Poor understanding of environmental costs and benefits Such efforts include developing new product concepts that reduce consumer and business-to-business waste. • Weak internal coordination • Organizational inertia Types of Green Production Activities • Poor diffusion of green production best practices Whether a company focuses its green production efforts internally or externally, its foundation rests on one of three • Consumer and investor inability to recognize and reward types of activities: green companies • Pollution prevention Unless these obstacles are resolved, the vast majority of companies will likely forgo developing a green production • Product stewardship program. This report offers recommendations to the new • Innovative green technologies administration and Congress to address these issues. The recommendations are categorized into three themes: strength- Pollution Prevention ening federal leadership, expanding federal initiatives, and Pollution is the contamination of air, soil, or water by the establishing a mandatory environmental product label policy. discharge of harmful substances. Pollution prevention is the reduction or elimination of pollution at the source What Is ‘Green’ Production? (source reduction) instead of at the end-of-the-pipe or stack. Pollution prevention occurs when raw materials, water, A company’s environmental efforts can be classified as energy, and other resources are used more efficiently, when either reactive or proactive. Reactive environmental efforts

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Nicole Darnall is Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Policy and Assistant Professor of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University. Her e-mail: [email protected]. less harmful substances are substituted for hazardous ones, nology, GE hopes to preempt its competitors and establish and when toxic substances are eliminated from the produc- itself as a market leader in this area. tion process. Pollution prevention allows for the greatest and quickest improvements in environmental protection by Benefits of Green Production avoiding the generation of waste and harmful emissions. Companies can benefit from green production by:

Product Stewardship • Reducing long-term liabilities Like pollution prevention, product stewardship focuses on • Reducing regulatory costs improving a company’s existing products and processes. However, it extends the company’s reach by looking • Preempting regulation beyond organizational boundaries to individuals and orga- • Reducing supply chain risk nizations that are involved in a product’s life cycle. A product’s life cycle is its design, development, distribution, use, • Improving internal efficiencies and disposal or reuse. Companies that undertake product • Enhancing market opportunities stewardship assess the environmental performance of their products from raw material access, through production pro- Reducing Long-Term Liabilities cesses, to product use and disposal of used products. For The first way in which companies can benefit from green pro- instance, in developing 3M’s product stewardship program, duction relates to reducing their long-term liabilities. A long- its Valley, Nebraska, facility recognized an opportunity term environmental liability is a legal obligation to clean up to reduce its supplier waste. By working with its supplier, contamination of air, soil, or water due to the intentional and shipments now incorporate reusable packaging. The modifi- unintentional discharge of harmful substances. By utilizing cation reduced shipping waste at this single 3M facility green production, companies can reduce or eliminate pol- by 8 tons in the first year (see “Product Stewardship at lution before it is produced. Doing so also can decrease a 3M” sidebar on page 88). company’s liability associated with its production process. Innovative Green Technology Reducing Regulatory Costs Innovative green technology differs significantly from pol- Environmental policy regimes that are more heavy-handed lution prevention and product stewardship because it does have a negative relationship with companies’ profitability. not focus on improving the company’s existing products Achieving regulatory compliance often requires that com- and processes. Rather, innovative green technologies look panies commit manpower and resources toward obtaining toward unseating existing products and processes by making operating permits, treating waste, adopting specific pollu- them obsolete. tion control technology, and monitoring and reporting on specific environmental activities. However, for companies By investing in innovative green technology, companies can that avoid creating pollution, many environmental regula- reposition themselves in such a way that establishes their tions would no longer be relevant to them. role as an industry leader, preempts competitors, and, in some instances, restructures their industry. For instance, by Preempting Regulation investing in hybrid locomotive technology, General Electric Some companies are able to use their green production (GE) aspires to do for the locomotive transportation market programs to get ahead of the regulatory curve to such a what Toyota did for the automobile market. By establishing degree that they can preempt future legislation altogether. itself as an early market entrant in hybrid locomotive tech-

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Product Stewardship at 3M

3M has one of the most established pollution prevention and product stewardship programs among U.S. manufacturing companies. In 2005, the program celebrated its 30th anniversary. Overall it has prevented more than 2.6 billion pounds of pollution. In the first year of its program, 3M estimates that it saved $1 billion. One example of the types of product stewardship efforts 3M has undertaken is the redesign of the packaging of its Post-it® Flags. The new design reduced waste by doing away with the back card and plastic blister cover from the packaging. These changes eliminate 35 tons of solid waste annually. The company also is working closely with its suppliers. Its Valley, Nebraska, facility worked with its supplier to change the component packaging to a system where both the containers and input packaging can be returned. This modification reduced shipping waste by approximately 8 tons in the project’s first year.

In these instances, companies avoid the risk of more strin- production and legal compliance costs and enter into gent regulation because their pollution is so low that addi- innovative markets that value green production. tional regulatory controls would have little effect on their operating procedures. Recommendations for the New Administration and Congress Reducing Supply Chain Risk Many companies are relying on their green production Strengthening Federal Leadership programs to more closely manage their supply chain rela- Recommendation 1: The new administration should tionships. Such actions help companies avoid inheriting create greater expectations that consumers, investors, environmental risks from less environmentally conscious and company managers consider the environment in suppliers. The global automotive industry is an example of their decision making. one sector that collectively is considering the environmental Specifically, the new administration should have open attributes of its suppliers to avoid unnecessary environmental discussions about how different societal actors can take risks. U.S. automakers are requiring that their suppliers assess part in addressing global (and local) environmental prob- and continually improve their environmental performance. By lems. Additionally, it should raise environmental con- doing so, these companies are reducing the risk of inheriting sciousness. Combined, these efforts can expand market environmental problems and minimizing potential long-term opportunities for environmentally conscious businesses environmental liabilities associated with their product inputs. and improve the environment.

Improving Internal Efficiencies Recommendation 2: The new administration should Another way in which companies can benefit from green frame the issue in a way that invites corporate-wide production relates to improving their internal efficiencies interest. and reducing operating costs. When waste occurs, product The new administration and the 111th Congress must move inputs and natural resources are not consumed entirely in beyond the win-lose rhetoric—protecting the environment the production process. Waste of any sort therefore repre- and enhancing economic prosperity can lead to win-win sents an inefficiency in the production process or a problem outcomes. Green production is an opportunity for companies with product design. To the extent that production waste to reduce their liabilities and regulatory pressures, improve can be reduced, companies can benefit financially. their internal efficiencies, enhance market opportunities, and add business value. Enhancing Market Opportunities Green production also can enhance business innovation. Expanding Federal Initiatives Business innovation has changed significantly in recent Recommendation 3: The Environmental Protection years and its pace is increasing. Innovation spans virtually Agency should develop online environmental all organizational and locational boundaries, and involves accounting tools. stakeholders rarely considered in the past. These changes A significant impediment to companies implementing create significant opportunities for companies that improve green production programs is knowledge of cost-saving their environmental performance by reducing their opportunities. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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(EPA) should develop online environmental accounting tools labels would equip consumers with information to scrutinize to help companies better understand the costs and benefits the environmental footprints of the products they purchase. of green production. Doing so can help companies build a Product labels should be mandatory, multidimensional, business case for going green. comprehensive, standardized, and government developed in order to be effective. The success of an environmental prod- Recommendation 4: The Environmental Protection uct labeling policy rests on whether or not interested parties Agency should promote the use of environmental believe the information disclosed on the label is credible. audits to help companies diffuse green production practices throughout their organizations. Conclusion EPA should encourage companies to use environmental In sum, economic prosperity need not be at odds with the audits. Environmental audits systematically assess how well environment. Businesses are investing significant resources a company’s management practices conform to green pro- in green production programs and benefiting financially by duction goals and help diffuse green production practices doing so. However, six obstacles discourage most companies throughout a business organization. from undertaking green production. By strengthening federal leadership, expanding federal initiatives, and establishing a Recommendation 5: The Environmental Protection mandatory environmental product label policy, significant Agency should develop an approved “template” and strides can be made toward encouraging more widespread encourage companies to use it in their voluntary use of green production within U.S. business, while at the environmental reporting. same time improving the nation’s natural environment. EPA should develop a standardized environmental reporting template to increase the transparency of corporate environmental reporting and allow individuals to compare compa- To Learn More nies’ environmental attributes. What the Federal Recommendation 6: The Environmental Protection Government Can Do Agency should expand technical assistance offerings to Encourage Green to encourage more companies to undertake green Production by Nicole Darnall production programs. Since many company managers mistakenly believe that developing green production programs is too costly, EPA should expand its technical assistance offerings to decrease the “risk” associated with developing a green production program. The report can be obtained: • In .pdf (Acrobat) format Establishing a Mandatory Environmental Product at the Center website, Label Policy www.businessofgovernment.org Recommendation 7: The new administration and the • By e-mailing the Center at 111th Congress should consider establishing a manda- [email protected] • By calling the Center at (202) 515-4504 tory environmental product label policy. • By faxing the Center at (202) 515-4375 Like nutrition labels on food, which have influenced consumers to assess the composition of the food, environmental

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Success Factors for Implementing Shared Services in Government

By Timothy J. Burns and Kathryn G. Yeaton

This article is adapted from Timothy J. Burns and Kathryn G. individuals provided robust responses to our survey questions Yeaton, “Success Factors for Implementing Shared Services and were often willing to engage in lengthy dialogue to share in Government” (Washington, D.C.: IBM Center for The their insights and understanding of the implementation process. Business of Government, 2008). The respondents represented all levels of government—local, state/provincial, and federal/central governments—and were As governments continue to be under increased scrutiny to from the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Asia. improve efficiency and be ever more vigilant with their use of public funding, they are increasingly adopting alternative While participants made numerous suggestions as to factors to models and approaches to providing services. Business organi- consider and approaches that had proven successful for their zations address similar issues of efficiency and accountability organizations, five areas were consistently mentioned and on a daily basis and, consequently, have developed method- emphasized by individuals at all levels of government, regard- ologies that could be applied in a governmental setting. less of which services the organization was planning to share. Consequently, as identified in this report, the five key success One innovative approach gaining acceptance within busi- factors for a successful shared services implementation are: ness organizations is the use of shared services. This entails the consolidation of administrative or support functions (such • Strong project management skills as human resources, finance, information technology, and • Senior-level support procurement) from several agencies into a single, stand- alone entity with the singular objective of providing services • Effective communication as efficiently and effectively as possible (Rahman 2005). • Strong change management Implementing a shared services approach involves complex structural changes requiring diligence and extensive time and • A phased approach to implementation energy. When properly implemented, however, the benefits have the potential to be immense. These five areas require attention early in the planning so that the appropriate mechanisms can be developed and built There have been numerous reports of successful imple- into the implementation process. mentations within the private sector. The implementations have reported both cost savings and improved efficiencies. What Is Shared Services? Shared services has the potential to provide similar benefits in governmental organizations. In fact, numerous federal, It is important to start with a clear definition of “shared state, and local governmental agencies have reported suc- services.” Most authors define shared services as the con- cessful shared services implementations that have resulted centration or consolidation of functions, activities, services, in improved services, efficiencies, and cost savings. or resources into one stand-alone unit (Bergeron 2003, Fyfe 2006, Irwin 2005, NASCIO 2006, Rahman 2005, Schulman This report presents key success factors that can be employed et al. 1999). The one unit then becomes the provider of the by government in implementing shared services. The data was functions, activities, services, or resources to several other collected through interviews, focus groups, surveys, discussion client units within the organization. boards, and analyses of relevant documentation. Research participants were individuals who were either involved in a gov- The shared services model is often described as being akin ernmental shared services implementation in the past or are to an open market system (Bergeron 2003). The provider currently engaged in a shared services implementation. These and client units enter into partnerships called service-level

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Timothy J. Burns is Assistant Professor of Information Systems in the Anisfield School of Business at Ramapo College of New Jersey. His e-mail: [email protected]. agreements (SLAs) on a “for fee” basis, in much the same Shared Services in the Private Sector way a company enters into an agreement with its customers. This arrangement implies that the client could poten- There have been numerous reports of successful shared tially go elsewhere for the service and thus pushes the services implementations in the private sector (A. T. Kearny provider to offer the best possible product at the best pos- 2004, Cecil 2000, Deloitte 2005, Donnelly 2005, Forst sible cost, much like a competitive open market. 2001, Peters 2005, Rahman 2005, Searle 2006). Successful implementations have been reported at companies such as It should be specified that shared services and centraliza- Dell, DHL, Shell, and Citibank, among others (Rahman tion are not the same (Schulman et al. 1999). Centralization 2005). In fact, Gould and Magdieli (2007) noted that: implies that there is one central authority and one physical location. Shared services, on the other hand, implies … more than 30 percent of U.S. Fortune 500 that one provider is responsible to multiple units and thus companies have implemented or transferred to a multiple authorities. Furthermore, modern information tech- shared services framework and are reporting cost nology (IT) allows for the provider to operate from multiple savings in the general accounting functions of up physical locations. to 45 percent, according to the English Institute of Chartered Accountants. Shared services implementations often have stated goals of increased efficiency and increased effectiveness A 2006 survey conducted by SharedXpertise indicated that (Bergeron 2003, Fyfe 2006, Irwin 2005, NASCIO 2006, business entities generally establish shared services organiza- Rahman 2005, Schulman et al. 1999). Those goals are tions for three primary reasons: to improve service, to man- realized through cost savings from economies of scale, age costs, and to improve organizational efficiency (Searle standardization of processes, increased expertise in the 2006). These benefits are achieved by leveraging economies service, increased service levels, the freeing of resources of scale, technology, organizational realignment, labor arbi- for the client units, and increased flexibility for the overall trage, best practices, and end-to-end process re-engineering organization. The client units, once free from the distrac- (Searle 2006). tion of supplying a service to themselves, can focus their efforts on the core competencies of their unit and ultimately An A. T. Kearny survey reveals that 70 percent of senior their customers. executives claim success with their shared services programs. They cite reduced costs, improved productivity, and better The services shared are most likely to be from the finan- trained employees among the benefits (A. T. Kearny 2005). cial, administrative, or support areas such as human resources, finance, information technology, or procure- Shared Services in the Public Sector ment (Bergeron 2003, Fyfe 2006, Irwin 2005, NASCIO Shared services has the potential to provide great gains in effi- 2006, Rahman 2005, Schulman et al. 1999). Our research ciency and significant cost savings within governmental orga- has shown, however, that in a government agency the nizations as well. Gould and Magdieli (2007) suggested: shared services model can also be applied to public services such as police and fire protection, waste disposal, The results achieved by the private sector hold and water treatment. In essence, the model can be applied promise for the public sector in the area of to any service or product required by multiple units within reduced risk, lower costs, increased quality of the overall organization. service, and more predictable results.

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Kathryn G. Yeaton is Assistant Professor of Accounting in the Anisfield School of Business at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Her e-mail: [email protected].

Gould and Magdieli (2007) further proposed that, with care- • Public sector organizations sometimes lack “commitment ful implementation, governmental agencies should be able to long-term change.” This can be caused by election to reach the “top end of the estimated 20–40 percent cost cycles and shifting political agendas. savings that have been the benchmark savings rate in the pri- • Shifting the philosophy to a demand (that is, one where a vate sector.” In fact, there are reports of public organizations service is purchased at an agreed-upon fee, volume, and already achieving significant cost savings. For example, the standard) rather than a supply-driven service culture can use of shared services allowed the U.S. Postal Service to save be hard to implement within a governmental entity. $71.4 million and reduce the cost of its finance function by 16 to 18 percent. Similarly, the Queensland, Australia gov- We heard examples of these issues from our research par- ernment saved AU$10 million in the first year of their shared ticipants, and while these issues clearly present challenges services implementation and had saved in excess of AU$73 within the public realm, they are not insurmountable. With million through fiscal year 2006–2007. the appropriate leadership and change mechanisms, there is evidence that public organizations can achieve the same Anticipating the savings as well as the improved efficien- benefits from shared services as private organizations. cies observed in the private sector, many governmental agencies have begun actively pursuing shared services planning and implementations. In fact, many governments Success Factors for Implementing Shared around the world are mandating such approaches in an Services effort to achieve these benefits. Success Factor 1: Strong Project Management Skills Project management is composed of the tools and tech- Recent studies (BEA 2006, Deloitte 2005) have clearly niques used to organize and manage resources so that demonstrated the demand for shared services in the public a project can be successfully completed within defined sector. These studies indicated that a vast majority of govern- scope, quality, time, and cost constraints. Shared services ment respondents believe that shared services will play a initiatives need clearly defined goals for the implementation role in supporting their organizations’ strategic goals and that and strong project leadership, not only at the senior level more than half of government agencies have already imple- but also at the project team level. A carefully chosen proj- mented or are in the process of implementing a shared ser- ect team should facilitate the planning process and serve vices initiative. These studies further indicated, however, that as the liaison between the various constituent groups. For few have yet to realize the full potential of shared services the implementation to progress as smoothly as possible, strategies. The benefits of a shared services implementation there is a need to unambiguously define an appropriate can be found at the local, state, and national government governance structure and assign responsibilities so that levels and have already manifested themselves in govern- individuals can be held accountable for the progress of ments around the world (A. T. Kearny 2005). necessary tasks. Unfortunately, there are some indications that the shared services model is harder to implement in the public sector than in the Although most research participants indicated that their private sector. Fyfe (2006) proposed three potential causes of why greatest challenges were “people” oriented, it is clear that implementing shared services in the public sector is difficult: exceptional planning, budgeting, and scheduling is of critical importance to the success of a shared services imple- • A lack of “up-front investment” can cause the project to mentation. Strong project management was a recurring be underfunded. This can significantly hinder shared ser- theme in the examination of documents as well as the vices efforts and hurt morale. survey responses.

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Salvation Through Shared Services—But Only If You Get the Governance Right By G. Martin Wagner

Economies of scale continue to increase for most business processes. Because of the desire for economies of scale, what was previously done internally within an operating unit becomes a service to be provided either by someone else in the larger organization or by a contractor. In a desire to achieve economies of scale, what was under an organization’s direct control becomes a service from someone working for someone else. Thus, the management problem of our time is how to capture the benefits of these economies of scale in a way that ensures good customer service.

This is not as simple as it might look. Earlier waves of consolidation captured savings, but sometimes at the price of unhappy customers. They might find it harder to do their job, face increased costs in other areas, or need to create “cuff” accounts for features not available from the central system. Mechanisms for addressing customer satisfaction were often ad hoc, and complaints sometimes got short shrift from the monopoly provider.

It takes sustained executive leadership and an attention to change management to convert to a shared services approach. Shared services is the approach discussed in this report to achieve desired economies of scale. The history of consolidation makes shared services a harder sell than it might otherwise be, but it also explains why shared services is an improvement over earlier rounds aimed at accomplishing economies of scale.

Shared services has the potential to solve the problem of getting an efficient economic solution and also improving customer satisfaction. The key to achieving both economies of scale and customer satisfaction is to get the governance right. The right governance strategy links an efficient provider to a responsible user. An appropriate governance strategy puts in place a framework with metrics and benchmarks in which the provider and user each has accountability and there is a means to resolve problems.

Effective shared services requires: (1) a framework for linking user satisfaction to service delivery costs, (2) service level agreements between users and providers, (3) metrics, (4) external benchmarks, (5) a framework for raising and resolving issues, and (6) an optimized and, yes, a consolidated business process.

1. A framework for linking user satisfaction to cost. The service provider must be accountable for delivering a defined quality of service for a specific cost. There must be a link between that cost and user satisfaction. This can be done through fee-for-service arrangements that emulate the free market or some other mechanism, but the organization must be able to trade off value for cost. 2. Service level agreements. This link must be reflected in agreements between providers and users. These agreements must impose requirements on users as well as suppliers. The service provider needs to be accountable, but so does the user. The provider may be accountable for a price and service quality, but the user needs to be accountable for using the service appropriately (for example, conveying a requirement that is defined well enough to be met). 3. Metrics. It is important to be able to quantify at least some of what the organization is getting through a shared service. Storytelling is not sufficient. Quantification should involve more than just the direct costs of a service, though this may be the easiest to measure. Quality matters, too. Since not everything can be quantified, there may be a need for qualitative measures as well. Managers also need to be prepared to update metrics as they gain experience with the service. 4. External benchmarks. Knowing how one compares to “best in class” solutions is important and will point to where further improvements can be made. Benchmarking against “best in class” providers is better than depending on providers to explain how good they are. It is also important to understand the reasons for differences. 5. Issue resolution framework. There needs to be a trusted mechanism for raising and resolving the inevitable issues that will arise. Ideally, an authority above both the provider of the service and the users will oversee this process. 6. An optimized shared business process. Despite the many successful examples in the private sector, not every business process lends itself to a shared service. An effective process will have economies of scale that are larger than can be captured by the organizations using the service. It will use a set of business rules that work well for these organizations despite arguments some may make for having unique needs. It will probably blend information technology and specialists in standardized jobs following a standard process for most transactions.

G. Martin Wagner is Senior Fellow, IBM Center for The Business of Government, and Associate Partner, IBM Global Business Services.

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Success Factor 2: Senior-Level Support Meetings allow individuals opportunities to voice concerns Senior-level support entails someone willing to champion and clarify areas of confusion. Open communication during the shared services project and sell the concept to constitu- the planning and implementation should convey how the encies. This leader should have both credibility and tact. various constituencies will be affected. Employees are often Senior-level support further ensures that both financial fearful of the impact that a shared services implementation and human resources will be made available to support will have on their job. These fears need to be addressed the project. and allayed as soon as possible in the process.

Having senior-level support was consistently identified by The organization should establish a governance structure research participants as being absolutely critical to the that facilitates appropriate communication. Most frequently, success of a shared services implementation. Individuals participants described a three-tiered approach to internal at the senior level of the organization willing to champion communication: communication with and among the strategic the shared services cause cannot be underestimated. These leadership, communication with and among the mid-level man- individuals sell the concept to all constituencies and ensure agement, and communication with and among the technical appropriate funding levels for the project. and/or operational personnel.

Success Factor 3: Effective Communication Success Factor 4: Strong Change Management A comprehensive communications plan should be devel- The complex structural changes often required by shared oped during planning and executed throughout the plan- services initiatives require special attention during the imple- ning and implementation process. A communications plan mentation process. On more than one occasion, research should address three elements (Saia 1999): participants indicated that their organization should have begun their change management efforts earlier. Change • The audience and their communication needs management provides a structured approach designed to transition an organization from its current state to the • The most effective means of communicating with this desired future state. audience • Who should deliver the message Change management efforts should begin very early in the planning and implementation process. In fact, a comprehen- A recent Computing Technology Industry Association sive change management plan should be developed during (CompTIA) survey indicated that the most common reason the planning stage of the implementation. Marchewka (2006) an IT project fails is due to poor communication (Rosencrance proposed a formal change management framework that 2007). Communication among the constituent groups should included four stages: start in the information-gathering process and demonstrate the collaborative nature of significant cultural and organi- • Assess the organization’s willingness, readiness, and zational changes. After noting that “communication can ability to change never start early enough,” one research participant further • Develop a strategy for change indicated that “employees will fill the void caused by a lack of information.” Many participants also mentioned the need • Implement the change management plan and track progress to listen to concerns and to adequately address any issues • Evaluate experiences and address lessons learned raised by constituencies. Success Factor 5: A Phased Approach to The method of communication will vary depending on the Implementation involvement of the various constituent groups. Some forms There are three approaches to system implementations: of communication, such as newsletters and e-mail, are convenient and able to be transmitted to numerous indi- • A direct cutover approach viduals simultaneously. While these forms of communication are convenient, the research participants expressed • A parallel approach concern that people are inundated by e-mail and other • A phased approach printed materials. Most participants stressed the need for face-to-face communication to alleviate confusion and In general, most participants recommended a phased shared ensure that affected parties are receiving a clear message. services implementation. This means that while the entire

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shared services implementation may be planned at the same time, most participants recommended taking the systems To Learn More online in a phased process or incrementally. A phased Success Factors for process was deemed more manageable and less risky than Implementing Shared a direct cutover approach, or “big bang” approach, whereby Services in Government all systems go online simultaneously. by Timothy J. Burns and Kathryn G. Yeaton Staying the Course There will be times during a shared services implementation when technological transitions do not go smoothly or employees or other constituents express dissension. “Staying the course” will be necessary. While flexibility is needed during The report can be obtained: the implementation, it is important for managers not to get dis- • In .pdf (Acrobat) format couraged and for them to continue on the selected course. at the Center website, www.businessofgovernment.org • By e-mailing the Center at [email protected] • By calling the Center at (202) 515-4504 • By faxing the Center at (202) 515-4375

References A. T. Kearney, Inc. (2005) Shared Services in Government: Irwin, D. (July 2005) AGA CPAG Research Series: Report No. 2. Turn private-sector lessons into public-sector best practices. Marchewka, J. T. (2006) Information Technology Project A. T. Kearney, Inc. (2004) Success through Shared Services: Management: Providing Measureable Organizational Value. From Back-Office Functions to Strategic Drivers. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

BEA Systems, Inc. (November 7, 2006) Public Sector Appetite NASCIO’s Survey on IT Consolidation & Shared Services in for Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Shared Services the States: A National Assessment (May 2006). is Accelerating According to Economist Intelligence Unit Report. PR Newswire US. Peters, P. & Silver, J. (June 2005) Renewed Interest in Shared Services: Adopting industry best practices can help internal Bergeron, B. P. (2003) Essentials of Shared Services. Hoboken, IT shared-services groups increase economies of scale, cost NJ: John Wiley & Sons. savings, and user satisfaction. Optimize, pp. 69–72, 74.

Cecil, B. (April 2000) Shared Services: Moving beyond Rahman, A. A. (April 21, 2005) Looking at shared services success. Strategic Finance 81(10) 64–68. model for public sector. New Straits Times Press, Berhad Business Times, p. 7. Deloitte (September 6, 2005) Negotiating the shared services minefield. Human Resoures Magazine. Rosencrance, L. (2007) Survey: Poor communication causes most IT project failures. Computerworld. Donnelly, M. (January/February 2005) Avaya’s journey to global HR shared service. Strategic HR Review Vol. 4 Issue 2. Saia, R. One Project, One Voice. Computerworld, February 8, 1999, www.computerworld.com/news/ Forst, L. I. (July/August 2001) Shared Services Grows Up. story/0.11280.33846.00.html Journal of Business Strategy 22(4), 13–15. Schulman, D., Harmer, M., Dunleavy, J. & Lusk, J. (1999) Fyfe, T. (February 2006) “Finetuning Shared Services: It’s a Shared Services: Adding Value to the Business Units. New different road in the public sector,” www.itworldcanada.com York: John Wiley & Sons. (accessed October 10, 2007). Searle, P. (October 2006) Shared Services Implementation: Gould, K. & Magdieli, A. (2007) Optimizing Government 2006 Survey Results. SharedXpertise. Effectiveness through Shared Services: Perspectives from IBM Corporation. IBM Global Services. IBM Corp.

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 95 Research Abstracts

New from the Center: Recently Published Reports

Collaboration: Networks and Partnerships Series Integrating Service Delivery Across Levels of Government: Case Studies of Canada and Other Countries Jeffrey Roy and John Langford Public services are traditionally delivered through a number of government agencies via programs that are not connected to each other. In the midst of this decentralized fragmentation, two trends— a citizen-centric philosophy and network model of service delivery—are driving demands to integrate the delivery of citizen-oriented services across levels of government. The rapid increase in technology allows this new collaborative approach to service design and delivery to be a successful substitute for the old hierarchical approach.

This report identifies strategies for, and challenges to, better integrating the delivery of citizen- oriented services. These strategies are based on experiences from Canada and four other countries that are also integrating their service delivery networks. The report concludes that, at a minimum, governments—and their leaders—need to embrace a mind-set of interdependence if they hope to chart a comprehensive vision of integrating the delivery of citizen-oriented services.

Contracting Series Success Factors for Implementing Shared Services in Government Timothy J. Burns and Kathryn G. Yeaton This report assesses the lessons learned from government organizations that have successfully implemented shared services and recommends best practices for those considering doing so.

The results on shared services are particularly important as shared services is rapidly becoming the norm for many business processes in the private sector. The use of shared services often results in cost savings of 30 percent or higher, coupled with improvements in user satisfaction. Shared services permits organizations to operate at greater economies of scale with improved business rules, while ensuring greater user satisfaction through a strong governance framework, metrics, and benchmarks.

E-Government/Technology Series Best Practices for Implementing Agile Methods: A Guide for Department of Defense Software Developers Ann L. Fruhling and Alvin E. Tarrell Traditional plan-driven software development has been widely used in the government because it’s considered to be less risky, more consistent, and structured. But there has been a shift from this approach to more flexible agile methods, resulting in fast releases by working in an incremental fashion to adapt to the reality of changing or unclear requirements.

This report describes software development philosophy, methods, and best practices in launching software design projects using the agile approach. It is targeted to Defense Department software developers because they face broad challenges in creating enterprise-wide information systems where agile methods could be used most effectively. Though not a panacea, agile methods offer a solution to an important class of problems faced by organizations today.

96 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Research Abstracts

Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government Ai-Mei Chang and P. K. Kannan In the past year, there has been enormous hype in the media about the growth of Web 2.0 and the use of social networking by the millennial generation. There has also been much publicity about the use of Web 2.0 in business and government. This report deconstructs the hype and presents the potential uses of social computing in government, discusses the barriers to Web 2.0, and presents what citizens think about Web 2.0. Interestingly, citizens in different age groups are open to new government initiatives to deliver services over the Internet using the interactive capabilities available in Web 2.0.

Biometrics: Enhancing Security in Organizations Babita Gupta Security issues have led organizations to implement better ways to protect people’s information and identity. The use of traditional security methods such as passwords or personal identification numbers (PINs) has been subject to fraud and security threats. Biometric systems are quickly becoming a vital component of next-generation security systems because they provide greater reliability and accountability. Biometrics is the automatic identification and verification of a person based on his or her unique physiological or behavior characteristics. Fingerprint and handprint biometrics were first used in the mid-19th century to stop impersonation. Today, many governmental organizations and businesses have embraced this technology for different purposes, from access control to fraud reduction. This report evaluates the use of biometrics in the public as well as the private sector. It makes recommendations on how biometrics can be implemented effectively. A key lesson is that organizations need to develop a clear business case that explains the need for biometrics. Managing for Performance and Results Series Five Actions to Enhance State Legislative Use of Performance Information Judy Zelio This report addresses a key challenge in the two-decades-long performance movement: Once executive branch agencies develop performance information, how do you get legislators to use the information when they make decisions? Based on her observations of state legislatures, Judy Zelio observes: “State agencies and legislatures have different performance information needs because of their different roles in government.” She says that recognizing and addressing these differences is key. She then identifies five specific actions that state agencies can take to provide performance information that legislators will see as useful, such as ensuring that executive branch budget staff provide performance information for legislative use that “emphasizes policy results rather than administrative measures.”

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 97 Research Abstracts

Organizational Transformation Series Four Strategies to Transform State Governance Keon S. Chi Historically, transforming state government meant restructuring or reorganizing the executive branch or a single agency. However, these approaches are no longer seen as effective. State governments must become more flexible and responsive to the rapidly changing environment in which they operate.

The four transformation strategies recommended in this report can be acted upon in a relatively short period of time without investing a great deal of additional resources and without partisan debates. They are based on the assumption that states can transform themselves by using best practices developed and tested by other states as starting points. The four strategies that the late Keon Chi highlighted in his report for transforming state governance are anticipatory governance, results- focused governance, collaborative governance, and transparent governance.

Presidential Transition Series The National Security Council: Recommendations for the New President D. Robert Worley The National Security Council was established in 1947 to advise presidents on the integration of domestic, foreign, and military policies into a unifying national security policy. Through the years, presidents have taken different approaches to structuring their national security process. Some chose to manage national security centrally from the White House; others distributed this function through the cabinet. Some chose strong secretaries of state to lead in this area, while others elevated the position of national security advisor. Regardless of the approach, national security and the use of the instruments of national power remains one of the most important challenges facing a new administration. This report provides recommendations for the president-elect regarding management of national security. Based on 60 years of history of how presidents have used the National Security Council organization and process, this report can serve as a guide for the new administration to avoid the pitfalls of previous administrations and to use the National Security Council system effectively in its formulation of national security policy.

What the Federal Government Can Do to Encourage Green Production Nicole Darnall The green movement has reached a tipping point in recent years. Private industry now realizes that using green production techniques not only improves the environment but also can provide significant financial benefits by reducing waste, regulatory costs, and potential long-term liabilities. This report identifies six factors that currently discourage industry from undertaking green production methods. Many of these could be ameliorated if the federal government provided greater leadership in creating expectations that consumers, investors, and industry include environmental considerations in their day-to-day decision making.

The author recommends that the next administration and Congress conduct open discussions on how different segments of society can take part in addressing environmental challenges to raise awareness, increase demand by consumers, and result in increased investments by investors and industry. Providing measurement tools for assessing progress can help as well.

98 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results

From the Executive Director

By Jonathan D. Breul

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Earlier this year, the IBM Center celebrated its 10th anniversary of studying the critical changes that are under way at all levels of government in the United States and around the world. Along the way, the Center has helped frame a number of significant management issues facing government.

For example, our case study of the Clinton administration’s President’s Management Council contributed to its revival and use during the George W. Bush administration. Our series of reports on the use of partnerships and collaborative networks has helped Jonathan D. Breul is Executive policy makers and program managers learn to work across organizational boundaries in Director of the IBM Center for The Business of Government ways that achieve broader outcomes. Our reports on managing for results and perfor- and a Partner, IBM Global mance pay have contributed to a clearer understanding of the challenges, issues, and Business Services. His e-mail: solutions government managers have encountered over the past decade. [email protected]. The past is only the beginning. We remain committed to bringing independent thinking and practical insights to public sector managers. We need to constantly scan the horizon for the new challenges that will next face managers. So while we continue to celebrate our past decade, we have developed snapshots of what we see as the “Ten Challenges” facing public managers in the decade ahead.

We have learned much during the Center’s first decade and we plan to continue doing so in the years ahead. We have turned our attention toward the presidential transition.

In anticipation of this major event, we developed a series of “Presidential Transition” reports and two books: The Operator’s Manual for the New Administration and Getting It Done: A Guide for Government Executives.

All of this and more are featured and updated regularly on our website at www.businessofgovernment.org. Check it out and let us know what you think.

100 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Stakeholder Groups

Your Bosses • White House • White House Policy Councils • Office of Management and Budget • Congress

Your Constituencies Your Colleagues • Citizens • Interagency • Unions Collaborators Your • State and Local • Interagency Councils Governments • Office of Personnel Goals • Interest Groups and Management Associations

Your OVERSEERS • Government Accountability Office • Inspectors General • Media Who’s Who at the Center

Albert Morales is General Manager, Federal Civilian Industry Leader, IBM Global Business Services, and Managing Partner, IBM Center for The Business of Government. His e-mail: [email protected].

Jonathan D. Breul is Executive Director of the IBM Center for The Business of Government and a Partner, IBM Global Business Services. His e-mail: [email protected].

John Kamensky is Senior Fellow, IBM Center for The Business of Government, and Associate Partner, IBM Global Business Services. His e-mail: [email protected].

G. Martin Wagner is Senior Fellow, IBM Center for The Business of Government, and Associate Partner, IBM Global Business Services.

102 www.businessofgovernment.org 10 Years of Research & Results Michael J. Keegan is Producer of the IBM Business of Government Hour and Managing Editor of The Business of Government magazine. His e-mail: [email protected].

Lauren Kronthal is Marketing Director, IBM Center for The Business of Government. Her e-mail: [email protected].

Ruth Gordon is Business and Web Manager, IBM Center for The Business of Government. Her e-mail: [email protected].

Consueline Yaba is Administrative Assistant, IBM Center for The Business of Government. Her e-mail: [email protected].

FALL/WINTER 2008 IBM Center for The Business of Government 103 How to Order Recent Publications

To obtain printed copies free of charge, please specify the number of copies needed and return this form to the Center either:

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REPORT TITLE quantity

Integrating Service Delivery Across Levels of Government: Case Studies of Canada and Other Countries

Success Factors for Implementing Shared Services in Government

Best Practices for Implementing Agile Methods: A Guide for Department of Defense Software Developers

Leveraging Web 2.0 in Government

Biometrics: Enhancing Security in Organizations

Five Actions to Enhance State Legislative Use of Performance Information

Four Strategies to Transform State Governance

The National Security Council: Recommendations for the New President

What the Federal Government Can Do to Encourage Green Production

How to Order Books

Available at bookstores, online booksellers, and from the publisher (www.rowmanlittlefield.com) or by calling (800) 462-6420.

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Federal News Radio, T ransition to Encourage Green Production WFED (1500 AM) Success Factors for Implementing Shared Services in Government 96 research Abstracts 100 From the Executive Director